Broken Beauty
by esor6
Summary: When solving a case, the team discovers that their unsub had a daughter that he abused. Despite being hurt for so long, Prentiss connects with her and decides to adopt her with the support of the team. Will she be able to help her? Eventual Demily
1. The Beginning

"CHARLOTTE!" The loud yell echoed all through the house to a little girl desperately trying to stop gushing blood coming from her thigh.

"CHARLOTTE GET YOUR LAZY A$$ UP HERE NOW! WERE LEAVING" The voice yelled again.

Leaving? She thought, extremely confused. She barely left the house, and almost never with master. She had snuck out a few times to find food and one time to throw up. What did he mean "leaving?"

She didn't have any more time to think about it. Loud foot steps started descending into the basement. She grabbed a roll of duck tape and taped the rag onto her cut to keep more blood from coming out, then scampered into the corner, in a small space between a broken washing machine and wall. She curled up as tiny as she could and tried, for the hundredth time, to pray like her mom had taught her. Her mind flashed back to a couple years before..

 _"That's it, sweetie." She encouraged. "Close your eyes, fold your hands, and tell God what you're feeling. If you do, matter where you are, He'll be with you too._

" _But I don't see him mommy!" She argued. "Are you sure he's here? Is he invisible?"_

 _She smiled down at her and Charlotte smiled too. "Not invisible, honey, he's_ _here_ _" she replied, pointing to her heart. "Always."_

 _Charlotte crawled over onto her mothers lap and wrapped her tiny arms around her neck. Her mother returned the hug and kissed her on cheek. "I love you, Char. No matter what." She told her._

" _I wove you too mommy" she replied._

A frustrated yell pulled Charlotte from her memory and back to her reality. She put her head between her knees, closed her eyes and kept trying to pray, but was very aware of the fact that master was just feet away from her hiding place.

 _"_ I'm not going to say it again." he growled "We. Are. Leaving. NOW!"

She watched him walk over to the shelf where her few possessions were, and pick up her most prized one: a small wooden jewelry box with a porcelain figurine inside. It had been her mothers before she died. He lifted it over his head and smashed it too the ground with all his strength. Charlotte watched, horrified as the box came in contact with the ground: the cover unhinged and flew in a separate direction, a spring flew up, and the dancer inside shattered.

It took all the strength she had to not let the tears leave her eyes. But she wasn't allowed to cry. She knew better.

"Still not coming out, huh?!" He yelled, clearly enjoying himself "last chance princess!"

She cringed at the use of her old pet name. "If not I'm leaving and never coming back for you! That means no food! No water! I'm locking the doors and no one will find you. You'll die in here like your whore of a mother did!" He yelled.

Charolette weighed her options quickly, but knew that he wasn't kidding. He never was. She watched as he picked up a snow globe that her mother had also left her and raise it above his head. She quickly jumped out of her hiding spot. "No! Please! I'm sowry" she said, a tear slipping from her eye.

He slowly started walking towards her, getting angrier with every step. She coward down against the wall.

He towered over her and looked down. "Is that a tear?" He questioned.

When she didn't respond he yanked her up by her hair curly blond hair. She stood, terrified as his nostrils flared. "I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" He screamed, inches away from his face.

"N-no master!" She replied, wiping it away. "Please don't hurt me, please, I sowry, please no hurt me, I sowry, sowry! She said quickly

"You have exactly five minutes to be at the back door with anything you can carry. If it's not in your hands, you'll never see it again. We're never coming back here."

He started running up the stairs and yelled out again "Five minutes!"

She stood, frozen in place for a minute, before running to her shelf. She took down her two books, and stuffed rabbit. She was about to try and reach her last possession, an old blanket when she heard a voice upstairs.

 _"_ FBI- We have a warrant!" Followed by a loud crash. The door gave way and the team ran inside, spreading out to the different rooms. "Clear!" Morgan yelled.

"Over here!" Reid yelled. Hotch and Rossi ran to him and they watched as their suspect, Michael Hosben pointed a gun at them.

 _"_ I'll shoot!" He said "Get out of here or I will shoot!"

 _"_ Michael put the gun down" Hotch said, sounding almost bored. "You know you can't shoot your way out of this one. It's over." Michael looked frantically between the three men and blocked doorway before throwing the gun and sprinting towards the window. Before he could even make it there, Hotch had tackled and handcuffed him and Reid secured the gun.

 _"_ Michael Hosben, you're under arrest for 3 counts of assault and 5 counts of murder. You have the right to remain silent.." Hotch recited, leading him outside. Reid and Rossi walked into the kitchen where the rest of the team was.

 _"_ Good work everyone." Rossi said "Do a quick sweep of the house then secure it for local police" he instructed. They fanned out in different directions, with Prentiss going to check downstairs. She was on alert as she got down, seeing some drops of blood and sensing another presence. Charlotte had crawled back to her corner hiding spot with her stuffed animal still in her hand. She held her breath, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Emily walked around the perimeter, noting the child's clothes and books on the floor. She walked over towards the old washing machine and dryer and saw the tiniest bit of a pink shoe sticking out. She shifted her shirt to cover her gun before crouching down slowly.

Prentiss was not prepared for the sight that met her eyes: a little girl, not more than 4 or 5 sat curled with her knees hugging her chest, clutching a extremely beat up stuffed animal. She could see her hands physically shaking. Her green eyes were filled with fear, and her bright blond ringlets had clearly not been brushed in some time. Her clothes were stained and dirty, she was covered in bruises and burns, and there was blood coming from a rag that was tapped on her outer thigh.

Prentiss took a deep breath, gave a smile and said softly, "Hi sweetie, my name is Emily. What's your name?"

Charlotte didn't even look at her, and Prentiss saw her breathing start to increase rapidly.

Just then, Morgan strode down the stairs. "Prentiss, got anything?" He called. He saw her crouched in the corner and walked over to her. He looked down and saw the girl, who immediately upon seeing him tried to crawl backwards, only to hit the wall. Frustrated and panicked, she started hyperventilating, and tears filled her small eyes. "Please no" she said in a small voice "I'm hurt already. No more"

Morgan immediately lifted his arms as if surrendering and started back up the stairs. "I'll call an ambulance." He told Prentiss.

Once he was gone, Emily looked back at the girl. "It's ok, he won't hurt you. No one is going to hurt you anymore. You can trust me." She said sincerely.

Charlotte still refused to look at her, but her breathing calmed and she sat up more.

"What's your friends name?" Prentiss asked, nodding towards her stuffed animal. The girl shrugged.

"Sweetie I see your leg is hurt. I know you're scared, but I need you to trust me that no one will hurt you now. We need to fix your leg though. Do you think you can be really brave and come with me upstairs to fix your leg? There's no bad people up there anymore." She said

The girl made eye contact for a small second. "Charlotte." She said carefully.

"Your name is Charlotte?" Emily asked "it's nice to meet you."

Charlotte gave a small smile but then looked back down at the ground.

"Charlotte do you think we can go upstairs to fix your leg so it doesn't hurt anymore?" Emily asked again.

Charlotte contemplated it for a second before worriedly asking, "No master?"

Emily took a deep breath to calm her anger at whoever hurt this girl. "No master" she confirmed. She put her arms out and Charlotte carefully climbed into them. Emily stood up and carried the girl up the stairs.

This case was far from being over, she thought.

 **I hope you liked the first chapter! Please review and let me know your thoughts and ideas so I know if I should continue writing it or not :)**


	2. To the Hospital

Once up the stairs, Charlotte began to panic seeing all the people around: not only was the BAU team there, but local police and EMT's had also joined. Emily felt her tense up before she buried her head in her shoulder.

"Shhh, it's ok sweetie. You're safe." Emily kept repeating to her, hoping if she said it enough maybe Charlotte would start to believe it.

She took her into the kitchen where the EMT's were, and tried to set her down on the counter, but Charlotte refused to let go of Emily.

"Charlotte, I'm not going anywhere, I promise. I'm just going to set you down here so the doctors can help you." She explained.

Charlotte still didn't want to let go of Emily, but couldn't risk making her mad. She had already been too nice. "I'm sowry" she said, letting go of Emily so she could put her down. "I'm sowry, no hurt pease?" She asked, with fear back in her eyes.

"No sweetheart, no hurt." Emily confirmed, holding her hand. "Never hurt."

The EMT saw quickly that the girl needed a lot of exams and medical treatment, but that wasn't going to be easy. After a quick assessment, she determined that the only thing that needed immediate attention was the cut on her leg.

"Im just going to take a look at this cut." She told her, starting to lift the tape.

Charlotte winced and looked quickly from the EMT to Emily, not sure how to respond.

"No!" She said, clearly scared of what the EMT would do.

"Charlotte she's just going to look at your cut, I promise she won't hurt you. Look I'm right here." Emily reasoned.

Charlotte nodded, more confused than anything. The EMT saw the cut and wrapped a new clean bandage around it.

"She needs stitches and a full exam" she explained to Emily "but with this level of trauma, it can be done under anesthesia." Emily nodded, agreeing that was their best option.

Emily turned back to Charlotte and held her arms out.

Charlotte waited for a minute, still not sure if she could trust her, but decided to go back into them. Emily held her in the back of the ambulance on the way to the hospital. When they got there, they were taken straight to a private room on the peds floor. A doctor came in with a mask that had anesthesia going through it. She passed it to Emily who held it up for Charlotte.

"This" she explained to her, "is just air. But it's special air for you to breathe that will help you feel better. I'm going to hold it up for your mouth, and I want you to take a few deep breaths of it, ok? I promise that it will not hurt you."

Charlotte was very skeptical, but she wasn't allowed to say no to adults, and she knew bad things would happen if she did.

She nodded, determined to be brave, and Emily held it up in front of her mouth. Charlotte was knocked out after just a few breaths from her sheer exhaustion and low weight. The doctors got right to work changing her into a hospital gown and putting an IV in her before beginning their examination. One of he nurses lead Emily out, promising to update her and her team as soon as they had more information, and took her out to the waiting room.

The team was waiting for her in the waiting room.

"So..?" Hotch started

Emily took a breath and sat down with them. "Her names Charlotte. She's maybe 5 or 6? Clearly suffered horrible abuse, physically, mentally, and I'd guess sexually as well. She referred to Hosben as 'master' and lived in the basement there." She told them.

"Geez, we didn't even profile him as having any kids.. and Garcia didn't find any birth certificates with him listed as the father." Morgan pointed out.

"I know" Prentiss sighed. "My guess is that he kidnapped and raped the mother, she escapes, has the baby, then he finds the two of them and kidnaps them again."

"That would mean the mom either ran away or died" Hotch said.

"Statistically, kidnapping victims of opportunity don't live past 48 hours if they're lucky" Reid said "and if they are to escape, escaping _again_ would just be very unlikely."

"Not to mention, she would try to take the kid" Rossi added.

"Which means she probably is dead" Hotch said grimly. "Let me see if Garcia can find anything" he said, and walked to other side of the room to call her.

"Um BAU?" A nurse said, coming out into the waiting area.

They all stood, ready to hear her news.

"As it turns out" she started, "the girl you brought in, Charlotte, was actually born here. She's six years old. We have her records here. Her mom had her here and didn't list a father on the birth certificate. There weren't any complications and she went home with Charlotte pretty soon after. That's all we have on the girl. We also, however, were able to find her mothers death certificate because our hospital responded to a 911 call that she died in.. she drowned after overdosing." She explained.

"So Hosben finds her and the kid, get them again, then stages the death to make it seem like an accident, get 911 there, but still has Charlotte." Rossi summed up to his team.

"How old was Charlotte when her mom died?" Hotch asked, rejoining the conversation.

"She would have been around 3" the nurse answered.

"And how is she.. now?" Emily asked

"Well" the nurse said with a sad sigh, "to put it bluntly, she's the worst case of abuse this hospital has ever seen. Extremely underweight, dehydrated, has healed broken ribs, leg, and wrist, bruises everywhere, cigar burns, chemical burns, her skin is completely raw on her legs from, my guess, being held in a scalding bath. Her leg now has stitches, her clothes were filthy, and she's been repeatedly raped and sodomized. Her anesthesia started to wear off and she was freaked out when the saw the doctor examining her, she tried to rip out her IV and run. We put in more medicine to keep her unconscious, but we can't put her through any more trauma, wether she's awake or not. She's going to be asleep for hopefully a few hours now to let her body rest. We called social services, they're on their way. Please tell me you caught whoever did this to her?" She asked.

Reid nodded. "We did." He told her.

"Good" she replied. "I have to get back to work, but ask anyone at the desk and they'll get me if you have any other questions. Social services will be here soon." She said, and went back to her floor.

The whole team was silent for a minute; no one knew how to reply to the information they had just gotten.

Morgan was the first to break the silence. "That son of a bitch" he simply said.

They started to get their things together but no one was ready to leave.

Hotch pulled Emily aside.

"Are you ok, Emily? I know that was hard to hear" He asked

"Hotch what's um, what's going to happen to Charlotte now? I mean once social services gets here?" She asked him

"They'll try to find a foster family as soon as possible but, she'll probably end up in an orphanage for at least a few days" he answered, rubbing his face.

"Hotch she can't be in an orphanage. She couldn't even be around a doctor without being sedated. Even most foster homes couldn't possibly ha-"

"Emily, what are you saying?" He asked curiously, cutting her off.

"That I want to foster her." She told him.

"That's dangerous, Emily. That's mixing work and your personal life, and you don't know the full extent of her damage and-"

Now Emily cut him off. "Hotch. That girl needs me. I'm not going to leave her now."

He nodded, still hesitant, but understanding. "I get it. Stay and talk to social services. I'll fill the rest of the team in and check in with you later" he said.

"Thank you." She replied.

 **Thanks for reading! As always, reviews are much appreciated! I hope you're enjoying it.**


	3. Going Home

Talking to social services went better than expected to Emily. They were already struggling with limited families and one of the doctors had told them about the attachment Charlotte had to her. They agreed to a temporary fostering, and someone from their Virginia office would come to her house in a week or two to check the progress and see if it was a good fit. Emily was extremely grateful, but also panicked. She didn't have anything for a kid at her house. Her guest bedroom had a bed, closet, and dresser. Nothing else. She didn't even know if there were sheets on the guest bed. Her head started running through all the things she needed to do when her phone vibrated, forcing her out of her thoughts. She saw "Hotch" on the caller ID and picked up.

"Hey Aaron. I'm good to go to foster her. Assuming there's no problems I want to fly back with her tonight with the team if that's ok? She's not going to want to spend the night in the hospital... mmhm... well it's 1 o'clock now so we could leave around 5?... mmhm... great thank you again Hotch." She said, and hung up.

Her next call was to Garcia.

"Hellooo?" She answered, trying to contain her excitement.

"She's coming home tonight, Garcia." Emily said, with a smile.

"Ooo! I KNEW it!" She squealed "Oh Emily I'm so happy for you! I'm going to be an Aunt! She's going to love it here! And-"

"Slow down, Garcia" Emily said with a laugh. "She's been through a _lot._ She won't even tolerate being in the same room with any guys.. she barely trusts me." She explained.

"Oh I know, I know, I get it, but STILL!" She said

"Garcia.. I need your help" Emily said

"Anything!" She replied "how can I help?"

Emily sighed. "My house... I have a guest bedroom with _nothing_ in it. I know we'll go shopping but there's no clothes, no sheets, seriously nothing. We're coming home tonight and-"

"Emily." Garcia said very seriously. "Is your spare key still in your back desk drawer?"

"Yes..." Emily confirmed.

"Consider it done! Don't even worry about it! When you get back tonight you'll have a room perfect for her!" She said

"Garcia I can't even begin to thank you. Really, you-"

"No time!" Garcia said "Gotta shop, talk soon!"

And with that, she hung up, leaving Emily clutching her phone smiling. She couldn't believe it, she was going to get to take Charlotte _home._

Just then, a nurse came into the waiting room. "Agent?" She asked.

Emily turned towards her.

"Charlotte's starting to wake up. We think it'd be best if you're there when she does?" She asked.

"Absolutely." Emily replied following her back to Charlotte's room.

Just as she walked it, she saw Charlotte's eyes begin to flutter open, and the calm look on her face while she was sleeping was quickly replaced with a look of sheer panic as she looked around the unfamiliar surroundings.

Emily quickly walked over to her bed side, thinking it would help, but she just got more afraid with someone walking towards her. She could see her panicking and her heart rate rose so much that her monitor started beeping quickly and a nurse came back in.

"Charlotte, sweetie, take a deep breath." Emily told her

She tried to, but it was quickly replaced by more fast ones.

"That's it" Emily encouraged, "you're safe here. No one will hurt you, remember?" she said.

Her breathing calmed down enough to stop the loud beeping from the monitor, and the nurse left.

"This was going to be much, much harder than I thought. But i'm not giving up." Emily thought to herself.

She pulled a chair up next to the little bed.

"Emiwy?" She whispered

She couldn't help but smile at her adorable pronunciation of her name.

"Yeah sweetie, I'm right here." she told her

"I'm sowry." She said, looking down.

Emily's smile was replaced with a frown. "How could anyone hurt a child this badly?" she thought.

"Charlotte, sweetheart, why are you sorry?" she asked

"I cry before. I am not allowed to cry or I am a baby. I was bad and bad means punish." She recited.

"No, no honey." Emily told her. "It's ok to cry. Crying means you care. Even I cry sometimes." she told her truthfully.

"Weally?" She asked, making just a little bit of eye contact.

"Really." Emily confirmed. And no one will _ever_ punish you like before. No one will hit you or hurt you. Understand?" she asked

Emily watched her concentrate on what she was saying and try to comprehend it. After a minute she gave a small nod. "I think so."

"So, Charlotte, there's something I have to talk to you about." Emily started. "You know that master is gone and won't hurt you, so you need somewhere to live now. And, I was thinking, maybe you could come live with me? What do you think?" She asked

Different emotions cross her face. First happiness, but that was quickly replaced by confusion, and eventually fear.

Emily sighed.

"Why?" She asked carefully.

"Because I want you to be happy. And to be loved." She explained.

"Oh" she said. She really loved being around Emily, and was even starting to feel safe with her there. But at the same time, that scared her. People who were nice always wanted something, and it was never good. So she decided to proceed cautiously with her and make sure she was good so she didn't get punished.

"Charlotte, have you ever been in an airplane?" Emily asked with a smile.

She shook her head, but Emily saw a look of excitement creep onto her face.

"We get to fly in one to go home." Emily told her

Charlotte smiled for real now and it completely transformed her- no more fear in her eyes, no more panic in her face- just a happy girl, how all 6 year olds should be. It was short lived, but Emily was determined to make that happiness permanent, not temporary.

"Tell you what" Emily said, "you get some sleep and I'm going to fill out some paperwork and make sure we're good to go home. Then we can go fly" she said with a wink.

"But I'm not tired" she quickly protested, despite her eyes drooping as she said it. "I'm sowry" she said right after.

But before Emily could assure her it was ok, she was asleep.

Emily went to work first going to the gift shop and buying a tee shirt and some sweatpants that Charlotte could wear out of there, then filling out forms from the hospital and that the social worker had left, and finally calling her team to confirm time for take off. Then she looked at her watch. If she woke Charlotte now and left for the jet, they'd get there just before the team so she could get settled in without everyone overwhelming her. Deciding this was the best plan, Emily went into her room and gently shook her shoulder. Even in her sleep, the girl flinched at the touch, but her eyes opened.

Emily saw her body tense up again and a look of panic cross her face again, until her emerald colored eyes settled on Emily. Before she could even say anything Emily watched the girl take some deep breaths like they'd practiced and calm down a little bit.

"Hey there sweetie. Glad you got some rest" Emily told her. "I got you these" she continued, holding up the gift shop clothes "to wear until we get home later."

Charlotte nodded her understanding. While she was sleeping, a nurse came and slipped her IV out so she wasn't restricted anymore.

Emily placed the clothes next to her then went to the corner and pretended to be looking at messages to give her some privacy to change. She turned back around and Charlotte was done.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

Charlotte nodded tentatively.

Emily walked over and put her arms out. This time, without hesitation, Charlotte scampered into them and with her settled on her hip, then they went out to the car.

The car ride to the jet was short and uneventful. Emily checked on Charlotte in her rearview merrier constantly, and Charlotte kept her eyes trained on the ground.

Once they got there, Emily parked the rental car and carried Charlotte to the plane, who now stuck her thumb in her mouth. After waving hello to the pilot, Emily picked a corner in the back that had a small table and a chair on either side of it. Emily strategically placed Emily on the chair facing the wall, so that she could look at Emily but not have to see the rest of the team, especially the guys who she knew would still scare her. Then she put her bag down and checked her phone. The team would be here in just a couple minutes, after they stopped by Charlotte's house and got the few things she had. She had a new message from Garcia telling her that she and JJ had finished on Charlotte's room. Emily walked back to the fridge and picked out a water bottle.

"Charlotte" she asked, "do you want something to drink? Some water or juice?"

Charlotte, not at all used to being asked if she wanted something, let alone have choices stuttered a bit saying "Ye- well, pease, I.." she looked back down at her lap, "sowry" she finished, looking upset and returning her thumb to her mouth.

Emily walked over and placed a cup of apple juice in front of her.

"You don't have to apologize" she reminded her gently.

Then, seeing that her stress level wasn't going down, pulled her stuffed rabbit from the basement out of her bag and passed it across the table to her.

Charlotte took it in her arms immediately and calmed down again.

"Thank you" she whispered, taking a sip of juice.

"You're welcome, sweetie." Emily replied.

 **As always, thanks for reading and all reviews are much appreciated!**


	4. First Night Home

The short plane ride home went surprisingly smoothly. Despite needing a bit of reassurance when the guys came on board, Emily was impressed with how strong Charlotte was being. She was even starting to warm up to Derek the tiniest bit. She stared out the window for most of it, and loved watching everything in miniature from a plane.

Once they landed, the team cleared off pretty quickly so Emily could take her time getting Charlotte off without overwhelming her with the others.

With Charlotte settled back on her hip, she walked out to her car. It was around 6 o'clock, and starting to get dark. She could tell the dark was making Charlotte uneasy and made a mental note to make sure she left light in her room when she went to bed that night. As they were approaching the car, Emily heard a small grumble coming from Charlotte's tummy.

She smiled, "You hungry sweetie?"

She felt Charlotte nod, "I'm sowry. I dont have to eat.." she began

Emily cut her off, "Sweetheart, you don't have to apologize for being hungry! It's dinner time. What would you like to eat?" She asked, trying to make eye contact.

Charlotte shut off again. She shrugged and put her head in Emily's shoulder, effectively ending the conversation.

Emily unlocked the car and put her in the back seat and made sure she was buckled in, then started the short ride back home.

Charlotte's head stayed down and kept her thumb in her mouth and her hand hugging her stuffed rabbit.

Emily knew this would be a long process but she wished Charlotte would just _trust_ her. Emily just wanted to love her, but she couldn't even hold the girls hand without her flinching.

But she was determined. Hotch had given her the next 2 weeks off of work, and one of her cousins, a child therapist in California, had texted her some articles and advice on getting through to her. Emily knew she would have to continue to reassure the girl, monitor her behavior, and try to get her to talk through her feelings when she was sad or scared.

She was also very aware of the fact that within the next couple of days, Charlotte would need doctors and therapy appointments, and she didn't see those going well.

"One step at a time" Emily reminded herself

When they pulled into Emily's driveway, Charlotte's eyes looked out the window again, eyes full of wonder. Emily smiled and took her inside.

"This is where you're going to live now." She explained gently.

Emily took her through the living room, kitchen, dining room, and showed her the bathroom before ascending the steps.

"Right there" she pointed "is my room, and here" she said pointing next to it, "is yours"

" _My_ room?" Charlotte whispered in disbelief.

Emily smiled and nodded, hoping for the best with JJ and Garcia's decorating skills as the turned the handle.

Emily couldn't believe her eyes, and neither could Charlotte. Emily was so grateful to her friends.

The bed in the corner was covered with light purple sheets and floral printed bedding perfect for any six year old. At the pillow, a fluffy white teddy bear sat. Across the room, a child sized desk had been set up with an art set, and the nightstand was filled with children's books. There was already a set of cozy pjs hanging on the dresser, and there was even a doll house in one corner.

Emily looked down at Charlotte who looked around, eyes wide in disbelief.

She smiled, " _Mine?"_ She questioned, trying not to get too excited.

"Yours" Emily confirmed, setting her down. Charlotte started over towards the desk but froze halfway there.

"Why?" She asked, cautiously.

"Because I want you to be happy here." Emily replied.

Deciding this reason was good enough, Charlotte gave a small nod then continued towards her desk where a big box of brand new crayons, stickers, markers, and colored paper were.

"Why don't you color a picture and I'll go make some dinner for us?" Emily asked

Charlotte nodded, already focused on her masterpiece.

Emily walked down stairs and started making some mac & cheese, her favorite dinner from when she was younger.

She was just finishing up and pouring it into two bowls when she heard Charlotte gently pad down the stairs into the kitchen, clutching a piece of paper in her hand.

"Hey sweetie!" Emily greeted her. "Why don't you pop up at the table and we can have some dinner?" She asked

Charlotte carefully climbed onto her chair and sat, still holding her drawing.

Emily placed a bowl of mac and cheese and a small cup of milk in front of her and sat next to her with her own bowl.

"What'd you draw?" She asked, gesturing to the picture in her hand.

"Oh I.. um" she started, slightly blushing, "for you" she said handing it to her. "If you want. I.. you don't have to" she continued, starting to look upset

Emily picked it up smiled at her. "Hey, its _beautiful._ I love it, really. Thank you." She said smiling.

Charlotte smiled back and looked relieved.

She'd drawn her and Emily together outside with some flower stickers on the ground.

Emily put drawing on the table between them and picked up her spoon.

Charlotte did the same and they began to eat.

Charlotte was scarfing it down. She never had much to eat, and sometimes if she took too long master took it away from her. She was too hungry for it to be taken away and was determined to eat it all before that could happen.

Emily, realizing this, told her, "Hey, sweetie, slow down. I'm not going to take it away. You can have as much as you want, I promise."

Charlotte nodded wearily and slowed down a little, but continued to eat rather quickly. When she was done, she went to pick up her milk cup, but knocked it over when she was bringing it back towards her. There wasn't much in it, but it spilled down onto her lap and Charlotte panicked.

Tears pooled in her eyes. "I sowry! I sowry! I didn't mean to weally! Very sowry!" She said, jumping up from the chair.

Emily jumped up too. "Charlotte, hey calm down, it's ok! I'm not mad, take deep breaths." She told her.

She watched Charlotte try to blink back her tear but a couple came spilling out and she panicked all over again. Emily knelt down next to her and tried again to calm her.

"Honey it's ok, I spill stuff all the time! I'm not mad, and besides, it was time for a bath anyway" she reasoned.

Upon hearing "bath" Charlotte started the process all over again but this time tried to run out of the room. Emily was confused for a second but then kicked herself realizing her mistake. Hosben would hold her in scalding baths to hurt her, so now she thought she was being punished again.

"Shit" she thought to herself and followed Charlotte. It didn't take long to find her crouched down in a corner in the hallway.

Emily very slowly approached her and knelt down, just like when she first talked to her.

Charlotte hid her head between her knees upon seeing Emily.

"Char, I am so sorry for scaring you. I told you earlier that I would never hurt you, and I mean that. I haven't lied to you have I? I'm not lying now. I just wanted to get you cleaned up. I will _never_ give you a bath like master did. How about we take a shower instead? And you can pick the temperature?" She asked

Charlotte sniffled and looked up just slightly. "What's shower?" She asked

Emily smiled. "It means the water sprays down on you, like rain. You don't have to sit in it. I can show you upstairs?" she said

Charlotte looked up again, feeling a little safer now, and curious about what a shower was.

Emily help out her arms and after a minute of contemplation, she climbed back into them.

Emily took her upstairs into her bathroom and pulled back the shower curtain. Then, she carefully turned the handle so luke-warm water sprayed out. Emily held her hand under to test.

"See? Nothing to be scared of." She said

She turned to allow Charlotte to test the water temperature too. She tentatively put her tiny hand in until the water sprayed just her pinky, before jerking it back out.

"Oh." She said, now testing her whole hand. "No hot." She observed.

"That's right" Emily told her, now setting her down. "Want to give it a try?" Charlotte nodded slowly.

"Ok, I'll go get you some pjs, and you can get in whenever you're ready."

After giving her a few minutes of privacy, Emily knocked gently on the open door before setting her pjs down.

"You ok, Char?" She asked

"Yes" she told her

Emily walked to the side of the tub and saw Charlotte standing in shower with her back facing her. Even on her back, Emily could see old burns and fresh bruises all over her. Her bottom was raw and pink with what looked like a possible rash.

This time, it was Emily who had to blink back tears.

She helped her wash her hair and wrapped her in a towel before picking her up and setting her on the toilet seat. Then she pulled out a jar from the hospital from her bag.

"Char, the doctors told me to put this on your bruises to help them feel better. Is that ok?" She asked

Charlotte looked worried for a second, but having more trust in Emily, nodded her consent.

Emily gently rubbed it on the big ones on her arms and legs. She decided to not even try the ones on her back or thighs yet. Then, she got her dressed in her pjs, helped her brush her teeth, and they walked out into her bedroom.

Emily could see her eyes starting to droop; it had been such a long day for her.

She tucked Charlotte in and handed her the stuffed rabbit and bear, before pulling out a book.

"Good night moon, goodnight stars.." Emily started, and Charlotte was already asleep.

"And goodnight Charlotte" Emily said, with a smile, closing the book. She left the bath room light on and door open then walked downstairs to clean up from dinner.

She walked into the kitchen and saw her phone buzzing on the counter. Seeing "Morgan" on the caller ID gave her butterflies in her stomach.

"Hey Morgan" she answered

"Hey sugar." He replied "How's Charlotte?"

"She's um, well.." Emily broke down crying. "Derek she's so hurt" she sobbed

"Shh, sh, I know Em. Just breathe, I'm on my way over." He told her

Emily nodded. "Thank you" she said, and hung up. She needed him.

 **Thanks for reading, please review! :)**


	5. Derek to the Rescue

Ten minutes later she saw headlights flash through her front window and went to the door to let Derek in. She opened the door and Derek immediately wrapped her in a hug. She felt so much better just having his strong hands around her. He rubbed her back and they walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Talk to me Em, what's going on?" He said, clearly worried about her

She signed and leaned back against the couch.

"You know we've seen the worst of the worst of crimes and criminals.." she started

He nodded his agreement.

"But were just so focused on the unsub, I just never even imagined the kind of damage his abuse did to Charlotte. And Charlotte is perfect! She's beautiful, and sweet, and caring. But-" her breath hitched and she looked at him "but, just earlier tonight I told her she could take a bath to clean milk she spilled on her and she ran and hid in a corner because she thought she was going to punished and held in a burning bath. She's six, Derek! Why does _any_ six year old think that?" She said, voice breaking.

He rubbed her back and let her calm down a minute.

"Em, what happened to Charlotte is beyond words terrible. It makes me sick to think about." He told her "But she connects with you. No one else could get through to her. It was you, and I've gotta believe there's a reason for that. You know you're not alone; we're all gonna be here to support you in this, but you can save this girl."

Her heart warmed at his words, and she smiled at him.

"Thank you" she told him.

"No one said it was gonna be easy, but if anyone can do it, it's you. You've just gotta be patient. You know with victims like this, trust and safety is a process. A long one. But give it some time, and she'll realize that she _is_ safe."

"You're right" she said

"Aren't I always" he said, winking at her.

She playfully smacked his arm and he retaliated by tickling her side.

She squealed and jumped up, accepting defeat.

"I'm going to go check on her" she told him, still laughing

She tip toed up the stairs into Charlotte's room. As soon as she walked in, she saw Charlotte thrashing around in her bed. There was sweat on her forehead, and her eyes were squinted shut tight. As Emily got closer, she could hear her muttering, "no master" over and over. After making a silent wish that Hosben was suffering badly in jail, she calmly sat on the beds edge and gently shook her shoulder to wake her out of her nightmare.

Charlotte's eyes fluttered open and she had confusion all over her face.

"Mommy?" She whispered.

Emily's heart skipped a beat when she heard Charlotte call her that, even if it was just out of confusion.

"No sweetie" she said stroking her head. "Emily, remember? You're safe here, it's ok." She reminded her.

Sleepiness overtook Charlotte and her eyes were closed again, but this time she was sleeping calmly. Emily retrieved her stuffed rabbit from the end of the bed and returned it to her hands before gently pressing a kiss on her forehead and walking back downstairs.

"Everything ok?" Derek asked her.

She nodded. "Bad dream."

"Ya know" Derek started with a devilish grin "Reid was telling me that you're less likely to have nightmares if you're not sleeping alone"

"Oh did he now?" I answered, walking towards him.

"He did. I find the boys facts rather fascinating" he replied, now just inches from her face

"Oh shutup" Emily said with a smile, and their lips met.

Their kisses continued, growing more and more passionate, their hands exploring each other's bodies.

Emily broke apart and looked up at him. "Should we continue in my room?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well I wouldn't want you to get nightmares" he replied with a wink.

They both walked up the stairs and after a quick check on Charlotte who was still sleeping peacefully, continued into Emily's room. Derek pulled off his shirt to reveal his toned stomach and arms then joined Emily in bed.

A couple hours later they both laid in bed looking at the ceiling, grinning like children.

Emily was first to break the silence. "You know we have to tell Hotch at some point."

"Come on now girl, why do you have to ruin the moment?" He replied with a grin.

Emily rolled over and snuggled into him, feeling happy and much calmer than earlier.

It felt like as soon as she closed her eyes, she opened them again after feeling Derek leave the bed. She rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"What time is it?" She asked with a yawn.

"5:30" Derek said, buckling his belt. "Why don't you get some more sleep, I'm sure Charolette won't be up for a while."

"No" she answered, already sitting up. "I'm awake. Plus I've got to make some calls to find her a pediatrician and therapist." She said unhappily.

"Alright" he told her, giving her a quick kiss. "I'm off to work."

"Say hi to the team for me!" She said as he walked towards the hall. "And Morgan-"

He stopped and turned back to her "Thank you" she said

"Anything for you" he replied, making the butterflies return in Emily's stomach. "Text me how today goes"

After a few more minutes of rest, Emily dragged herself out of bed and put her robe in before walking towards her kitchen. Charlotte was still asleep, and Emily intended to let her rest as long as she needed. In the meantime, she made some pancakes and toast and prepared a plate for Charlotte and herself.

She needed to decide how to approach the girls nightmares: Emily knew the best way to help her was to have Charlotte talk to her about what happened, but she knew she would be very hesitant to do so. She was so confused when Emily woke her last night that she probably didn't even remember. JJ had recommended Henry's pediatrician as a great doctor for Char, and after doing some research, Emily agreed. She called and spoke with the doctor about her situation and set up an appointment for the following day. As she hung up she heard Charlotte padding down the hallway. Charlotte walked in holding her stuffed bear and looking much more calm and rested than the day before.

"Good morning Char" Emily greeted her

"Good morning Emiwly" she responded shyly

Emily patted the seat next to her at the table and put her plate of food down.

"Thank you" Charlotte said, making some eye contact.

Emily smiled at her progress. "You're welcome sweetheart. How'd you sleep?"

Charlotte shrugged, "Ok" she replied, taking a few tentative bites of pancake. Emily saw immediately that she loved the food noted to make pancakes more often for her.

"Did you have any bad dreams?" She asked casually

Charlotte froze for a second before answering "No" very quietly.

It didn't take a profiler to recognize that she wasn't telling the truth, but Emily didn't want to push her too much, so she let it go.

"Ok, well if you ever do remember that you can always talk to me, ok?" Emily told her

She nodded, looking slightly embarrassed, then finished the rest of her pancakes, but was still hungry.

"More?" She shyly spoke up.

Emily smiled. "Of course, sweetie." She told her, going to refill her plate.

 **Thank you for reading! I would love if you left a review with your thoughts or ideas- I love reading them and they encourage me to keep writing! :)**


	6. Shopping

Charlotte finished her seconds and looked up at Emily.

"Thank you" she told her

Emily beamed at her progress, and it gave her hope for the coming days, which she knew would be difficult.

"Of course sweetie. I was thinking maybe today we could go shopping for some new clothes and toys? How does that sound?" Emily asked

Charlotte looked confused. "More?" She said "but I hawe clothes and toys in my woom."

Emily smiled sadly. "You do," she replied "but since you'll be staying here for a while, you'll need more than a couple outfits, and I thought we could get some more toys?"

Charlotte nodded, not wanting to make Emily upset. "Ok" she said, and walked up the stairs behind her into her room.

Emily went into her drawers, and put together a light purple tee shirt with blue jeans that had an elastic waistband. There were only a handful of outfits in the drawers, and just one pair of sneakers.

Emily could tell that Charlotte was self conscious about her helping her get changed, but she let her help and was ready relatively quickly.

While Charlotte brushed her teeth, Emily pulled out her phone and texted Derek: "Off to the mall for some new clothes! Wish us luck!"

He replied a minute later with: "Sounds like fun ;) keep me posted!"

She smiled putting her phone away as Charlotte came back into her room from the bathroom.

"Ready sweetie?" Emily asked

Charlotte walked over to her bed and picked up her stuffed bear then returned to Emily and nodded, getting into her arms.

45 minutes later they stood in a kids department store. It was a Tuesday, so it wasn't too crowded which was good for Charlotte.

Together, they walked through and filled a cart with two packs of underwear, socks, (white and colored) a pack of undershirts, white and black tights, some adorably patterned pjs, a good amount of everyday shirts, some jeans and leggings, a couple sundresses, and a skirt.

Emily carefully helped Charlotte try on some shoes, since her current pair of sneakers were big. Charlotte couldn't contain her excitement when she put on light up sneakers and started jumping around the shoe department with a wide grin.

"I think we found a winner" Emily said smiling at her. They also found a pair of sandals, flats, and boots before heading back to the shirts near check out.

"Alright, lets pick out three more" Emily said, setting her down.

Emily held up some shirts and let Charlotte point to her favorite, and was so happy to see how much she loved having choices.

One hour and an overflowing cart later, they made their way to check out.

Emily paid for and grabbed their things, and they walked to their next stop: a toy store.

They walked by the books and picked out some good ones, and Charlotte smiled again when Emily promised they could read some before bed that night.

Next, they went to a wall with different toy/puzzle games and gadgets divided by age. Emily put her down in front of the "4-6" sign.

"Why don't you pick out a few nice toys or games you like?" Emily said kindly

Charlotte started to nod, but stopped and her apprehensive look returned.

"Why?" She asked carefully

Emily's heart broke thinking about what kinds of things Charlotte associated with getting rewards and answered, "Just so you have some fun things to play with at home. I promise, you don't have to do anything for them, they're just for you to enjoy."

Charlotte's apprehension lessened and she nodded slowly, then surprised Emily by walking to the right and stopping at the "7-9 year old sign"

She picked a slightly simplified rubik's cube, a wooden star that was made up if small blocks that could be taken apart and put together, and an "under the sea" 50 piece puzzle.

Emily was a bit worried about the complexity of these, but didn't want to disappoint Charlotte. She was proud that she picked them out on her own, and could always get her simpler ones later. She smiled and put them in their basket.

"These look great!" Emily told her

Charlotte smiled shyly, proud of her choices.

Their last stop was by a stuffed animal aisle, where Charlotte chose a soft sea turtle and koala bear.

Emily paid for their new things and carrying Charlotte, walked out of the mall, proud of their successful trip.

Once they got to the parking lot, Emily could see Charlotte's eyes starting to droop.

She buckled her in and by the time they got home, she was out cold.

Emily carefully carried her and the bags upstairs, and after settling her in bed with her new stuffed animals, unpacked all the new clothes, shoes, books, and toys. She was still sound asleep, so Emily went downstairs to get started on making them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, then went back up to check on her.

She entered her room and found Charlotte sitting up, with one hand rubbing her eye and the other tightly clutching her stuffed sea turtle. She looked sad and scared, and Emily knew she had another nightmare.

She went and knelt by her bed and asked, "What's wrong sweetie?"

Charlotte shrugged, looking at her lap.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

Charlotte sniffled and nodded her head.

Emily didn't want to let this one go. "Do you want to tell me about it?" She asked

Not surprisingly, Charlotte shook her head no.

"You know, Char, I find that when something's bothering me, it really helps to tell someone. You can talk to me, what happened?" She asked again

Charlotte took a breath and told her, "Master came back, and he was hwrting me again and he- he" she paused and wiped a tear that was coming out "he took me away fwom you" finished, now fully crying.

All Emily wanted to do was hug and cuddle her, and somehow make her understand that she would never have to go through any abuse again. But she also knew that Charlotte wasn't ready for that kind of contact, and she'd have to be patient, as much as it killed her to do so.

Instead, she sat next to her and rubbed small circles on her back.

"Shh, sh you're ok, Char, you're ok" she repeated.

Once Charlotte had calmed down some, Emily said, "Char, I'm sorry you had a bad dream, and I'm very sorry about all the times master hurt you. But you know you're safe here with me. I will never hurt you and I promise, that master will never ever find you or hurt you again. Understand?" She asked her

Charlotte nodded. "I'm sowry" she told her

"Oh Char, you don't have to be sorry. I promise. Besides," Emily continued, grinning now, "you've got Mr. Sea turtle! The best protector in the world!" She told her, tickling her side a little bit.

Charlotte giggled and squirmed away.

Emily smiled too and lifted her up out of bed and set her down on the carpet, happy to see her calm again.

"Ready for some lunch? I've got sandwiches downstairs!" Emily said.

Charlotte nodded and started out of the room, grinning as she hopped down the stairs.

Emily followed behind and once again, gave silent thanks for this beautiful, amazing child who was now in her life. She needed Charlotte as much as Charlotte needed her.

They ate their lunch and Charlotte took her medicine from the hospital.

She then sat on the family room floor working with full concentration on her new puzzle.

Emily watched as she did the dishes, and was impressed with the progress she was making on her own. As she dried the last one and put it away, she saw her phone buzz and "Derek" on the caller ID.

She picked up, and smiled when she heard his deep voice on the other end.

"Hey there, how's the day going?" He greeted

"Really good, actually!" Emily replied. "Shopping was a success and she took a nap. She had a nightmare again but talked to me and told me what it was about, which is a big step. Now she's doing a puzzle in the family room and I've gotta say, she's really smart. This puzzle is meant for kids much older and she's flying through it!" Emily said with pride

"Uh-oh, do we have another Reid on our hands?" He said, grinning

She laughed, "something like that."

"Hey listen" he told her "Hotch let us off early today since we didn't have a new case and he had a thing at Jack's school. I was thinking maybe I could pick up some food and we could eat dinner together? I know Charlotte's not crazy about men still so if you want to wait that's totally fine I just-"

Emily cut him off. "No, dinner sounds perfect. She'll love you once she gets to know you. See you around 5?" She said

"Sounds perfect" he replied.

Emily hung up and walked into the family room, joining Charlotte on the floor. She watched as Charlotte, face full of concentration put the final pieces in the puzzle and looked up and Emily with pride.

"Done!" She announced

Emily looked down at the puzzle. "This looks awesome!" She said. "I can't believe you did this all by yourself."

"I like puzzles" Charlotte replied with a smile.

"Hey, I have a question for you." Emily said

Charlotte looked at her.

"Do you remember agent Morgan from the plane?"

She thought for a second, then nodded.

"He really wants to get to know you, and was thinking of coming over for dinner tonight. He's really nice and I promise he won't hurt you. Would that be ok?"

Emily watched as Charlotte thought through her question. It did worry her a little, she didn't trust anyone right now except for Emily. But she also remembered him as being nice to her, and she didn't want to make Emily mad after everything she had done for her, so she nodded her approval.

Emily smiled and the two of them began taking part the puzzle and fitting it back together again, happy to be together.

 **Happy 2018! Please please review and tell me your thoughts.**


	7. Dinner with Derek

At 5:05 Charlotte and Emily were watching a movie with Charlotte cuddled up in Emily's lap. There was a knock at the door and Emily could feel Charlotte's body tense ever so slightly against hers.

"It's ok, Char." She soothed. "That's just Derek with dinner. You stay here and I'll go get the door" she told her, gently picking her up and setting her back down on the couch.

After quickly combing through her hair with her hand, Emily went and answered the door.

Derek stood with a couple boxes from their favorite homemade pizza place nearby.

"Delivery" he greeted, walking in and pecking a kiss on her cheek.

She smiled. "Come on in."

They walked to the kitchen and Derek put the boxes down.

Emily walked back into the family room and Charlotte looked relieved to see her, and quickly climbed into her arms and put her thumb in her mouth, something Emily was noticing she did when she got nervous or anxious. Together they walked into the kitchen.

"This is Derek, you met him on the plane," She reminded "Do you want to say hi?" She prompted gently.

Charlotte took her thumb out of her mouth and whispered, "Hi sir."

Morgan smiled, "Hey Charlotte. It's nice to see you again. You don't have to call me sir, though. You can call me Derek." He told her

She nodded. "Hi Dewek" she answered

He smiled at her pronunciation. She really was a cutie, and he could see her bond with Emily right away.

Emily set her down at a chair and Derek brought over two plates with white margarita pizza on it, and a plate for Charlotte that had a small, kids personal cheese pizza. Emily got classes of water and a small plastic cup with some chocolate milk in it for Charlotte and joined Derek at the table, and they began eating.

"So I heard you and Emily had a fun day today" Derek said, looking towards Charlotte.

She nodded enthusiastically. "We went shopping and I got clothes and spawrkly shoes and books and toys and a sea tuwtle and koala." She listed off happily

Derek put on a surprised face and replied, "Woah, you really were busy!" That sounds like a lot of fun."

She nodded and went back to eating her pizza.

"How was work?" Emily asked him

"Good." He replied. "No new cases, so we just caught up on paperwork mostly. Everyone missed you though."

She smiled back at him. She missed her team too.

Then she noticed Charlotte who was looking at the two of them with a hint of confusion in her eyes.

"Marwied?" She asked looking back and forth between Emily and Derek.

Derek coughed on the piece of pizza he was eating and Emily's eyes grew.

"Oh, no sweetie" she said quickly. "Just friends"

Derek nodded.

"Oh" she replied

They finished dinner quickly and Emily went to clear the dishes, and Derek asked Charlotte to see her puzzle. Emily watched Charlotte lead him into the family room and was so glad that she was feeling more trust, especially towards him.

She sighed when she realized that she still had to explain to Charlotte that they had to visit the pediatrician the next day. She knew Charlotte wouldn't be happy.

After putting the dishes and leftovers away Emily joined them on the floor by the puzzle, where Derek and Charlotte were naming their favorite fish and sea animals in the puzzle's picture.

"I'd better get going." Derek said after they both decided the turtle was their favorite, "I've got to let my neighbors dog out. But thanks for letting me play with you, Charlotte" he said.

She nodded shyly with a small smile. "Bye Dewek" she said.

Once he had left, Emily knew she had to talk to Charlotte. She picked her up and set her next to her on the couch, but Charlotte immediately crawled into her lap.

Emily smiled at the response. "I've got to talk to you about something" Emily said. "Tomorrow morning, we've got to go to the doctors office so that they can look at you and make sure you're ok, and I'll-"

Before she could even finish, Charlotte was vehemently shaking her head and crawled backwards off of Emily's lap. She started to fall, but Emily caught her and started to move her next to her.

"No! No huwt!" Charlotte shrieked, clearly frightened. She squirmed out of Emily's hold and scampered to the furthest end of the couch and hugged her knees to her chest in a little ball.

"I don't want to go to doctow. P'ease no make me go!" She pleaded

It broke Emily's heart to see her like this, so panicked and frightened. "I'll be with you the whole time, and the doctor won't hurt you. I promise." Emily told her

Charlotte shook her head again and looked up at her with wild eyes, "P'ease Emiwy, no make me p'ease!"

Emily was baffled at where this strong of a reaction came from, but regardless, they had to go. Charlotte had injuries everywhere and needed an exam, as much as she didn't want to put her through it.

Emily sighed. "Let's just take a breath and calm down here, Char. You know I'd never hurt you. How about we go take a shower?" Emily reasoned, holding her arms out to pick her up.

Charlotte quickly dodged them and went up to her room on her own. Emily blinked back tears and started the shower, and put a new pair of her pajamas on the sink.

"Do you want some help?" Emily asked, as she struggled to get her shirt off.

Charlotte shook her head and turned away from Emily, then successfully pulled it off along with her jeans and underwear and got in the shower, pulling the curtain taut.

Emily picked up her clothes. "Ok, I'm right here if you need anything." She said, going into her room to put her dirty clothes in her closet and closing the bathroom door a little bit to give her space and privacy.

She pulled out her phone and texted Derek, needing his advice.

"Doctor talk did NOT go well. She won't even look at me and won't let me help her." She typed

Her replied a minute later. "You knew it would be a tough one.. stay strong and give her some space, she'll calm down in time. She's just scared." He typed back

She read it and knew he was right, she just needed some space, as much as that hurt her. She grabbed the balm from the hospital and went back into the bathroom, ready to help Charlotte dry off, but she had already gotten herself out of the shower, attempted to dry off, and was finishing getting dressed by buttoning her pjs, but she couldn't get the buttons matched up.

Emily decided to ditch the balm for the night and crouched down saying, "here, let me help you"

Charlotte's eyes filled with hurt again and she dodged under Emily's arm and walked back into her room and climbed into bed, clutching her stuffed turtle tightly.

Emily sat on the edge of her bed with a book they had bought earlier at the store.

"Do you want me to read this to you?" She asked, remembering how excited she was earlier when she promised to read it.

Charlotte scooted as far as she could to the opposite end of the bed and curled up tighter before replying with a cold "No."

Emily's heart shattered into a million pieces, but she calmly placed the book down on her nightstand and turned her light off.

"Ok, you know where to find me if you need something. Goodnight Char, I'll see you in the morning sweetie."

She waited for a response but didn't get one, and went to bed too, upset and frustrated.

 **Sorry for the sad ending, but I promise the coming chapters will be happier :) I'd really appreciate it if you left me a review with your thoughts- pretty please? I love hearing your ideas and it encourages me to keep writing! Hope you enjoyed!**


	8. The Doctors

Emily had a hard time sleeping that night, and kept getting up to check on Charlotte, who slept ok for the most part. Around 4 in the morning she decided that she wasn't going to get anymore sleep, so she might as well catch up on some work.

She got lost in BAU files in her office and when she had finished and closed the last one, it was already 7.

She stretched and walked into the kitchen, put the water on for coffee, and started making a fresh batch of chocolate chip pancakes, since Charlotte seemed to like them so much before.

Once she had a cup of coffee and put out a plate of cut up pancakes, it was around 7:30, and she needed to wake Charlotte to make sure they'd be on time for her 9 am appointment.

As she was walking upstairs she felt her phone vibrate and say a message from Derek- "Stay strong today, you know you're doing what's best for her. Let me know how it goes."

She smiled reading his words, and put her phone away and continued to the landing before quietly entering Charlotte's room.

She was still asleep peacefully, and clinging onto her turtle stuffed animal.

Emily sat on the edge of her bed and gently shook her shoulder.

"Char, time to wake up sweetie" she said

Charlotte's eyes slowly blinked open, and a look of uncertainty filled them for a second that didn't go unnoticed by Emily.

"Hey love, you're ok. You're in your room" she reminded her "We've got to get up now though"

Charlotte moaned quietly and pulled the covers up on her face, trying to go back to sleep. Emily gave a small laugh and gently pulled them back down. Charlotte was most definitely not a morning person.

Worry now replaced the look of uncertainty in her eyes.

"We still have to go to the doctow?" Charlotte asked in a small voice

Emily nodded. "Yeah, we do. But just to help you" she reassured, helping her sit up.

"Charlotte do you want to tell me why your worried about visiting the doctor?" Emily asked, encouraging her to open up.

Charlotte stuck her thumb in her mouth and shook her head slowly.

Emily knew this wasn't the time to push her.

"Alright then, do you want to pick out your clothes for today?" She asked

Emily could see some excitement in her face knowing she got to choose her clothes and she got down from her bed and went over to the drawers.

Emily opened the top one with shirts and Charlotte chose a light blue shirt with a butterfly stitched onto it, and paired it with grey leggings. Emily got out a pair of underwear and Charlotte chose one green and one purple sock to complete the look.

Charlotte tried to get her pajama top off, but started to fumble with the buttons again.

"Can I help?" Emily asked with a smile, but waited for her answer this time, remembering her reaction the night before.

She was relieved when Charlotte nodded and allowed Emily to help her get changed.

Charlotte brushed her teeth and let Emily pull her hair back in a ponytail, complete with a light blue bow to match her shirt.

Once Charlotte was satisfied with her outfit choice for the day, she followed Emily downstairs and the two of them ate their breakfast quietly. Emily could sense her anxiety still. She went to get her purse and Charlotte strapped her new light up sneakers on. Emily was sure to add some books, her rubicks cube, and her stuffed turtle to her purse and held her hand out to the car. She got her buckled in and started the short drive to the pediatrician's office.

Emily could tell that Charlotte was becoming increasingly nervous on the drive: her thumb was back in her mouth, she kept glancing around, and as they got closer, she looked on the verge of tears.

Once they had parked, Emily unbuckled Charlotte and set her down to walk, trying to give her space still after last nights meltdown.

Emily got a few steps before she realized Charlotte wasn't walking with her.

She turned and saw Charlotte still next to the car where she had set her down. She looked more on the verge of tears now and slowly lifted her arms indicating she wanted to be lifted.

Emily gave her a sad smile and picked her up immediately. Charlotte quickly wrapped herself around Emily tightly and put her thumb back in her mouth.

"It'll be ok, sweetie, I promise" Emily assured her as the walked into the building elevator.

They got out of the elevator and walked into the waiting room. Emily walked up to the desk and Charlotte buried her head deep into her shoulder.

"Hi, we have an appointment at 9 for Charlotte" Emily told the nurse at the front desk.

"Sure!" She said cheerfully "just sign your name right here and Dr. Coves will be with you shortly"

After Emily had finished some paperwork, they sat in the waiting room. Charlotte showed no interest in playing with the other kids at the play corner, and refused the book and rubicks cube Emily brought. She did, however, take Mr. Turtle and hold him tightly.

A couple minutes later a doctor in her mid thirties came out into the waiting room.

"Charlotte?" She said

Emily stood and walked back to her.

"Hi, I'm Emily Prentiss" she introduced, shaking the doctors hand. "We spoke on the phone"

The doctor smiled warmly. "It's nice to meet you. And you must be Charlotte" she said, smiling at the girl who's small body was still curled around Emily.

Charlotte buried her head deeper into Emily's shoulder and didn't say anything.

"She's a little nervous" Emily apologized.

"That's perfectly alright" Dr. Coves replied, leading them back to an exam room.

Once they arrived in the room, Dr. Coves gestured for them to sit, and rolled a stool up across from them with her laptop and a file on it.

"I know we spoke on the phone some, and I have Charlotte's medical records from the hospital here, but I'd just like to talk to you both some and do an exam, if that's alright?" She said

Charlotte still refused to look up so Emily nodded for her.

"Has Charlotte been taking her medicine prescribed from the hospital?" She started

Emily nodded. "Yes, it seems to be helping. I put the balm they gave me on her bruises two nights ago, but we didn't last night."

The doctor raised an eyebrow in question.

"She had a bit of a meltdown after I told her we were coming here, and wouldn't let me touch her. I figured at that point it would do more harm than good."

The doctor nodded her agreement and typed some notes on her laptop.

"Has she been eating and drinking well?"

Emily nodded. "Yes. Some meals more than others, but she always eats at least part of three meals a day."

The doctor nodded. "And how's she been sleeping?"

Emily sighed. "She's had a couple nightmares, but it's been ok for the most part. She takes a nap around lunchtime."

"Good" the doctor answered. "If it's ok with you, I'd like to examine Charlotte now. I want to look over the injuries the hospital noted and make sure they're healing properly." She explained.

"Would that be ok, Charlotte?" Emily asked.

Not surprisingly, she didn't answer.

"I'll make you a deal." Dr. Coves said, and Charlotte lifted her head ever so slightly to see what the doctor was going to say. "You can stay on Emily's lap on the exam table, and I'll check over both of you. How's that sound?" She said with a reassuring smile.

Charlotte shrugged, but didn't object when Emily stood and moved up onto the exam table. Charlotte even shifted a bit so she was sitting up more now.

Dr. Coves put her stethoscope into her ears and told her, "First I'll listen to your heart with this" she explained, and moved it around Emily's back. "Do you want to try?" She asked Charlotte

She put the ear pieces in Charlotte's small ears and got a small grin in reply. She let her moved it around Emily's chest, then allowed the doctor to do the same to her.

The examination continued like that- letting Charlotte see and try with Emily- checking her eyes, ears, mouth, and reflexes.

By the end, Charlotte was feeling considerably more comfortable and sat with a smile playing again with Dr. Cove's stethoscope.

Dr. Coves pulled a small paper gown out from a drawer next to the sink and placed it next to her and Emily.

"I know it's not ideal, but I need to examine her bruises and burns as well as any sexual abuse to make sure everything's healing ok." She explained. "I'll leave so you can help her get changed. Some patients feel more comfortable to not have a parent in the room for this part of the exam, but that's completely up to you and Charlotte" she said.

Emily nodded her understanding. This was not going to be easy.

"I'll be back in a few minutes" the doctor said, with a reassuring smile.

Once she had left, Charlotte took the stethoscope out of her ears.

"All done?" She asked with a hopeful smile

"Not quite sweetheart" Emily said, and Charlotte's face fell.

"Charlotte, Dr. Coves just needs to examine the places that master hurt you. I'm going to help you get changed into this gown so she can look at them. Then we'll be done." She promised.

"Why?" Charlotte asked slowly, not liking she was hearing. She liked Dr. Coves but she didn't like anyone see her injuries- not even Emily. What if the doctor try to hurt her?

"Just so she can make sure they're healing ok and to help you feel better." Emily tried explaining

Charlotte considered this. "No huwt?" She asked

"No sweetie" Emily replied, holding her hand. "She will not hurt you, I promise. And, Mr. Turtle can stay here with you."

Charlotte was still far from comfortable but let Emily help her get changed into her paper gown.

"Do you want me to stay here with you or let you have some privacy?" Emily asked her "I just want you to feel comfortable."

Charlotte shook her head quickly. "Stay pwease?" She asked

"Of course sweetheart" Emily told her.

Dr. Coves knocked at the door and Charlotte jumped a little.

"It's ok, Char." Emily soothed. "Come in"

The doctor came back in and had Charlotte lay on her back. She tried to keep her distracted by talking to her about Mr. Turtle and ice cream flavors but Charlotte was clearly still upset and uncomfortable at the doctor seeing the burns, cuts, and bruises that were scattered across her small arms and legs.

"Charlotte were almost done. I'm going to look between your legs at your private parts now. It's ok because I'm a doctor and I'm just doing it to make sure you're healing. I promise I won't hurt you and I'll be quick." She said reassuringly.

Dr. Coves then gently moved Charlotte's legs apart and lifted her paper gown slightly.

Charlotte was crying within seconds, squirming to try and stop the doctor from touching her, and looked desperately at Emily

"You said no huwt!" She cried, her eyes filled with shock, still squirming at the doctors touch.

Emily didn't even know how to reply; she never wanted to make Charlotte think they would lie about someone hurting her.

"You're ok Charlotte, she's almost done" Emily told her, holding her hand.

Emily could tell right away that her words weren't reaching her and watched Char's eyes darting around frantically. She felt alone and violated and after a minute of the exam just couldn't take it for a second longer. Emily saw her eyes change from fear to pure panic and she suddenly closed her legs and yell "NO!" Throwing Mr. Turtle across the room. She proceeded to hit the doctor who was trying calm her down and jumped down onto Emily's lap burying her head in shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably now.

Emily looked expectantly at the doctor, who told her, "Don't worry, I'm finished. You can get her changed again."

With a sad smile, she left the room.

"Charlotte, it's ok, the doctor's gone now" Emily told her, but Charlotte wouldn't calm down.

"You're ok, Charlotte, just breathe" She tried, but Charlotte was still crying hysterically.

Emily finally accepted the fact that she wasn't going to say anything that would calm her down, so she just sat there and kept rubbing small circles on her back to calm her.

After a few minutes, Charlotte's crying turned into small sobs, which eventually turned into hiccups, and eventually, she was calm again.

"Are you ok now?" Emily asked, worried.

Charlotte nodded and her thumb in her mouth.

"Why don't we get you changed and we can get back home?" Emily asked

Charlotte's face flooded with relief after hearing they could go home and she let Emily change her quickly, then Emily carried her into the doctors office.

Upon seeing Dr. Coves, Charlotte closed her eyes and turned to look at the wall. She hated her.

"I'd like to discuss the exam as well as some school and therapy options with you" Dr. Coves said "but I see this isn't the best time. Why don't you give me a call whenever you're free to talk?"

"Thank you" Emily said, relieved to take Charlotte home. "I'll call you later this afternoon."

Emily and Charlotte walked back out to the car and Emily could see her eyes dropping as they drove home. Her meltdown had made her very tired and she was asleep within seconds of Emily setting her down in her bed.

Once she was asleep, Emily didn't want to leave her side, so she sat on the floor and watched her even breathing and calm face.

After a few minutes she pulled out her phone and messaged Derek.

"Doctors didn't go too great- are you free tonight? I need to vent." She sent

"Always. What time does Charlotte go to bed?" He replied

"Around 7" she answered

"I'll be there at 8 :)" he texted.

She smiled, relieved to have Derek's support and definitely relieved to be done with the doctors.

I love hearing your feedback. It would mean a lot if you took a minute and reviewed! :)


	9. Feeling Better

Emily couldn't stand to leave Charlotte's room. She kept replaying her face over and over from the doctors exam. She looked so hurt, so broken.

She felt frustrated and like she wasn't helping Charlotte, and Emily hated feeling helpless. She always liked to have a plan.

After a few more minutes, she silently went down the hall and called Dr. Coves back.

They talked for a while, and Dr. Coves was very helpful. She explained that Charlotte's reaction, while it was heartbreaking, was not too unusual in bad abuse cases. She told Emily that she could see her trust with her and to kept being patient and showing care for Charlotte. They both agreed that she wouldn't be ready for school during the next week at least, but gave her the name of a very small, individualized private school to look into. They went over bedtime routines, cognitive and language development, medicine and medical things to look for, and the importance of encouraging Charlotte to open up to her or someone else she felt close to. Emily told her about a child psychologist who worked in the FBI crimes against children unit, and Dr. Coves highly recommended her. She suggested an appointment within the next few days, after Charlotte could have a chance to calm down a little bit more.

By the time they hung up, Emily had renewed hope and was feeling much better.

She called Derek during his lunch break and explained everything that happened at the doctor, and felt even better with his support.

Then she sat in bed on her laptop, doing some research and enjoying relaxing a little bit when she heard small feet pattering down the hall. She smiled as she closed her laptop, looking up to see the visitor.

Charlotte stood in her doorway with half her curls coming out of her ponytail after sleeping it and clutching Mr. Turtle.

"Hi Emiwy" she shyly spoke up.

Emily smiled and patted the empty space next to her on the bed. Charlotte immediately climbed up and snuggled up against Emily's body.

Emily wrapped her hands around the girls tiny frame immediately, surprised and filled with happiness to finally have her cuddling with her.

"I'm sowry I was bad at the doctow" Charlotte said, looking up a bit, and Emily could hear the sadness creeping into her voice.

"Oh you didn't do anything wrong Charlotte" Emily reassured her. "Remember, it's ok to be scared. Just remember that you can always come to me if you are, ok?"

Emily felt her head nod.

"So do you want to tell me why you were so upset at the doctors?" Emily asked, encouraging her again to open up.

Charlotte shrugged. "Is Dewek coming hewe tonight?" She asked instead.

Emily paused, surprised at her question. She couldn't tell if she was just trying to change the conversation or really was feeling attached to Derek.

"Do you want him to?" She asked

Charlotte nodded right away. "He's nice." She said

"Ok, I'll ask him" she promised, and grabbed her phone from her bedside table.

"Hey- Charlotte's awake and actually asked if you could come over tonight.. seems like she really connected with you :) any chance you could come earlier so she can see you?" She texted

A few minutes later he replied "I've been told I do have that effect on the ladies ;) Of course, I'll come at 5:30 instead?"

"Haha perfect. I don't think she'll want to open up, but she's come close a few times.. maybe you'll have the magic touch?" She sent

"You never know! Kids will always surprise you. See you later" he sent back.

"Derek can come over later tonight" Emily told Charlotte, and saw a smile tugging at her lips in response.

"We've still got the rest of the day ahead of us, Char! What should we do?" Emily asked.

Charlotte shrugged.

"Hmm.. what do you think we should do, Mr. Turtle?" She asked the stuffed animal in Charlotte's arms, eliciting a small giggle from her.

"Do you want to finally read some books?" Emily asked her

She nodded enthusiastically, and jumped off of the end of the bed.

"Race ya to your room?" Emily said with a smile "Ready... set...g- hey that's not fair!" She called, chasing Charlotte who had started running before she got to "go."

She could hear Charlotte giggling as she chased her down the hallway.

"I will beat you!" Emily called out, hearing another giggle in response, and turned into her room, seeing Charlotte jump onto her bed in victory.

"I beat you!" She said triumphantly

Emily pretended to be winded, and slowly walked over to the bed where Charlotte stood in pride.

"You... did" she said, still acting exhausted from the chase.

"But not at the tickle war!" She said, her fake exhaustion gone and how tickling Charlotte's stomach.

Charlotte laughed and bounced down on the bed until Emily jumped next to her, and they both had to take a minute to catch their breath from laughing so hard.

Emily pulled two books they had chosen at the mall from her nightstand and held them out.

"Which one first?" She asked, expecting Charlotte's usual shrug.

Instead, she watched her small hand reach out tentatively and point to one, looking up at Emily questioningly.

"Great choice!" Emily praised, surprised and happy that Charlotte made her own choice, and Charlotte smiled, proud of her decision.

"Once upon a time.." Emily began reading.

Charlotte was completely engaged in the three books they read, and loved her job as the page flipper. Emily even noticed that she seemed to be following along the words well and comprehending the story. For a girl that wasn't sent to preschool or kindergarten, she sure was smart.

After their stories, they decided it was time for lunch and carried her down with her, along with some art supplies.

Emily got to work heating up some left over pizzas and cutting up apple slices while Charlotte worked on another picture.

A few minutes later, Emily placed Charlotte's plate in front of her as she finished the finishing touches on her masterpiece. She'd drawn an assortment of flowers, hearts, and shapes in different colors, and added some stickers.

"I love that, Char" Emily told her, as she handed it to her. "In fact, I think it belongs in a special place for everyone to see" she continued, taping it to the fridge. "Perfect." She said

Charlotte smiled sheepishly, proud of her work, and ate her food quickly.

After lunch, Charlotte snuggled up to Emily again as they watched a little bit more of a movie they'd started, and worked on the star brain teaser and rubicks cube that they'd bought at the store. After a bit of work, they were able to get the star puzzle solved. They couldn't figure out the rubicks cube, but were getting close.

More importantly, Emily was over the moon to see her feel more comfortable about asking for help, making choices, and speaking what she was thinking and feeling.

She still got tentative at times, but it was still progress, and that meant a lot to Emily.

It gave her hope for the days ahead when she knew she'd have to start talking to Charlotte sport adoption and therapy... but that could wait for now. She was really hoping that Derek would be able to get her to open up before that happened so Emily could know how to best help her.

A couple hours later when the door bell rang, she jumped up first into Emily's arms to go meet Derek at the door.

 **Thanks for reading :)**


	10. Puzzles & Opening Up

20 minutes later Charlotte, Emily, and Derek sat at the table with an assortment of Chinese food in front of them that Derek had brought over.

Charlotte, determined to use chopsticks like Emily and Derek were, sat with her face full of concentration, desperately trying to pick up a piece of orange chicken, but could get it more than a few inches off of her plate without it falling out of her sticks.

Emily and Derek watched her, trying to hold in their laughs, but after her fourth attempt, Derek let out a chuckle.

"Let me help you Char" he said, reaching over. His big hand moved to hers and he repositioned her fingers carefully on the stick.

Emily saw her tense up briefly at his touch, but she let him move her hand.

"Try now" he encouraged with a smile

She focused back on the chopstick, and this time, successfully picked the chicken up and put it in her mouth with a face of triumph.

Derek reached his hand across and she gave him a gentle high five, and he smiled.

Once they had finished dinner, Derek pulled a small box and put it behind his back.

"I have a surprise for you Char" he said

A little bit of fear crept into her eyes. "Why?" She asked carefully

Confused by her reaction, Derek looked over at Emily, who stepped in to reassure her.

"Remember sweetie, you don't have to do anything for the present, it's just something fun for you, like the things we got at the mall."

She nodded her understanding and looked back at Derek.

He moved the present from behind his back and held it out in front of her- another puzzle, this one slightly more challenging, that featured a picture of dolphins.

Her face lit up. "T'ank you Dewek!" She said with a wide grin "Can we do it now?"

"Of course, lets go into the living room where you did the other one" he replied, happy she liked the present.

A couple minutes later, the three sat on the floor, with Charlotte in the middle, piecing together the puzzle

"This goes.. hewe.. and that goes thewe and..." Charlotte muttered, talking through her puzzle's progress.

Derek and Emily watched her with smiles on their faces.

They stepped in to help a few times, but for the most part, she was doing the puzzle on her own.

"And...all done!" She said about a half hour later.

The three admired her progress, and she was happy with the final result.

"T'ank you fow the puzzle Dewek" she said politely

"Anytime kid" he replied "it looks great"

Charlotte looked back at the box and saw "Virginia Aquarium and Marine Center"

"Emiwly" she said pointing to the words. "What's aqua-wum?" She asked, doing her best to pronounce it.

Emily smiled, "Aquarium" she said, clarifying the pronunciation. "It's a really cool place where they have all kinds of animals like fish and turtles and dolphins, and you can go look at them" she explained.

Charlotte's eyes grew. "Weally!" She said

Emily nodded. "In fact, we could go visit it tomorrow if you'd like."

Charlotte nodded immediately. "Yes pwease!"

"That means we've got to go shower and get ready for bed" Emily said, standing up and holding her arms out.

Charlotte went into them, and the two of them climbed the stairs. After a quick shower, Charlotte allowed Emily to put the balm on her bruises and she changed Charlotte into her pajamas before helping her climb into bed.

"Do you want to read a story?" Emily asked her

Emily could see her thinking something. "Could you and Dewek wead it to me?" She asked shyly.

"Of course sweetheart" Emily replied, happy she was feeling so comfortable around him.

A few minutes later, Emily and Derek had finished reading a story to Charlotte, who was already starting to fall asleep.

"Goodnight, sweetie" Emily said, kissing her on her forehead and handing her Mr. Turtle.

"Night kid" Derek said after, tucking her into the covers.

"Goodnight Emily and Dewek" she said quietly before drifting into sleep.

Emily and Derek both stood up, but stayed for a minute with smiles on their faces, just looking at the sleeping little girl who had managed to steal their hearts in a matter of days.

Once they had made their way back downstairs, Emily poured them both a glass of wine and they sat on the couch.

"She's gotta be one of the best kids I've ever met" Derek said, truthfully. "You did the right thing bringing her here."

Emily smiled. "I just feel so...happy. It's like every time I see her I get this sense of completion."

Derek smiled.

"Her doctor actually recommend Dr. Freeman.. that psychologist who works in the crimes against children unit." Emily continued.

Derek nodded his agreement. "I've heard really good things about her. Does Charlotte know about this yet?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

She sighed. "No, I have to tell her tomorrow. I can only hope it goes better than the doctors did."

He shifted so he was sitting up more, allowing her to lean her head on his strong shoulder.

"It was that bad?" He asked sympathetically.

She nodded, and Derek started rubbing her back gently.

"She looked so broken again... I just never want her to feel like she'll be hurt again. And I knew that an exam was going to be rough but.. just not that rough I guess." She said

"I know. She just needs more time." He reminded her gently.

"I can tell she's so close to opening up. If she'd just _tell_ me why she felt so strongly against the doctors or anything, I could help her. But she just gets to scared to talk to me, to anyone, and I wish she wouldn't." She said

"She will" Derek reminded her "and when she decides to, you're going to be there for her. I'll be there for her... and for you" he said

Emily smiled as she got butterflies again.

No one had ever made her feel how Derek had. Safe, protected, _loved_. The more she saw Charlotte interacting with him, the more she felt complete. She couldn't help but think how the three of them made a perfect family.

Not sure how to reply, Emily started flipping through the channels on the tv.

"I don't see anything good on" she concluded, after a minute scrolling through.

"Oh really?" Derek questioned "because I see something that I like very much"

He bent over and planted a kiss on her lips. She responded with another, and they continued, their kisses growing more and more passionate. Derek laid back and Emily laid on him, feeling his muscular chest.

She broke apart after a minute and laughed. "Were like teenagers" she said, laying her head on his chest.

"Who ever said that was a bad thing?" He asked with a grin.

A few hours later, Derek woke up in Emily's room with her head resting against his shoulder.

He heard a crash of thunder and looked outside to see it raining hard.

After a few minutes he wasn't falling back asleep, so he decided to get up and use the bathroom.

He gently rolled out of bed and saw the clock on the side table read 2:13.

He shuffled down the hall into the bathroom.

When he was done, he opened the door and was about to return to their room, but saw a small figure sitting on the top stair, looking outside.

He waited a second for his eyes to adjust and, sure enough, the tiny frame belonged to Charlotte. He slowly walked over, not wanting to startle her, and sat next to her on the step.

By now his eyes had adjusted to the darker lighting, and he could see her expression as she jumped in fear at the visitor.

"Woah woah kid." He said, putting his hands up. "It's just me, it's Derek"

He watched her recognize him and slowly start to slow her breathing.

Once she had calmed down again he asked, "So what're you doing up?"

She shrugged and put her thumb in her mouth. After a minute he could see that she was on the verge of saying something, but something was holding her back from doing so.

Not wanting to push her he gently reminded, "You know you can talk to me about anything, Charlotte."

"It's waining outside" she whispered

He nodded, a bit confused at her obvious observation.

"It is" he agreed, and waited for her to continue.

"It-it was waining the night mommy died." She said quietly, looking down

His heart felt for this child, remembering seeing his own father die when he was just a few years older than her.

"I bet you miss her" he said

She nodded. "Lots. I wish she was hewe."

"Well she may not be here" Derek said, gesturing around them. "But she's always _here"_ he explained, pointing to her heart. "She loved you a lot, Charlotte. She just wants you to be happy and loved now."

She nodded her understanding. "I like Emiwly" she stated.

He smiled. "I like her too" he admitted.

"Well.. sometimes I feel bad fow having fun with Emiwly because my mom isn't hewe." She said, and he saw a tear in the corner of her eye.

"Charlotte" he said, getting her to look up at him. "I want you to listen to me. Your mom would be happy that you're with Emily. She's going to do a great job being your friend since your mom isn't here anymore. You never have to feel bad about that, ok?" He said

After a minute, she nodded. "Awe you suwe?" She asked

He nodded, "I'm sure."

Charlotte stared down at Mr. Turtle in her hands and rubbed her hands back and forth against the soft material of his shell.

"So I heard you had a rough time at the doctors today" Derek said casually. "How come?"

She shrugged. "I didwt want to go" she told him

"Any particular reason why?" He asked her

She continued to look down but after a minute said, "I was afwaid she'd huwt me. And she _did_!" She said, remembering her experience from that morning.

"You didn't like her looking at you?" Derek asked

She shook her head. "She twied to touch me where master used to. I- I thought she was going to huwt me." She explained, growing a little bit more distraught.

Derek nodded. "I get it." He said.

After a minute, he continued, "But I think maybe she wasn't trying to hurt you like master, she was just trying to look where master hurt you so she could make sure it was better."

"I didn't want anybody to wook." Charlotte said.

He nodded. "I know. I'm sorry that she had to."

Charlotte shrugged, and Derek could see her small eyes looking more tired.

"Hey Charlotte, why don't we have our own code word? That way if you ever feel like you want to talk to me any anything, you can just say the word. How's that sound?" He asked

She considered his proposition for a minute before nodding. "Ok" she said. She liked talking to Derek.

"How about... "puzzle," since you seem to like them so much?" He asked

A small smile appeared at the corner of her lips. "Ok" she agreed

Now he could see she was really tired. It had to be close to 3 in the morning, and her eyes were drooping.

He carefully scooped her up, walked back to her room and tucked her into bed.

"Goodnight Charlotte" he said, and went back to bed himself, happy that she was finally starting to open up.

 **Woah, chapter 10! Thank you for all of the reviews and support! I hope you are enjoying the story.**


	11. Aquarium Visit

Morning seemed to come too quickly for Derek as he felt Emily shaking his shoulder just few hours after he'd gone back to sleep.

He groaned. "What time is it?"

"5:30" Emily replied. "You'd better get up soon or you'll be late. I'm sure Charlotte will be up soon enough too.." she trailed off

Derek paused, remembering his conversation with Charlotte. "She uh, she might not be up until later." He said

"What do you mean?" Emily asked stretching her arms.

He sighed. "Last night I got up to go to the bathroom, and she was sitting on the stairs, watching the rain. She opened up to me a little, but didn't get back to bed until around 3." He told her

"She- she did?" Emily said in disbelief

He nodded with a smile.

"Derek that's great! I knew you'd have the magic touch! What did she say?" She asked

He smiled at her happiness. "Nothing too much.. and I didn't want to push her. Basically she said it rained when her mom died and she misses her and that she was scared at the doctors."

Emily nodded. "Derek that's... that's _progress._ Thank you" she said, full of gratitude

Derek grinned, and Emily did the same.

Derek craned his neck to look at the clock. "I've still got a little time before I have to get ready.." he said

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Emily asked, already pulling off her shirt.

She wrapped herself around him and planted a deep kiss on his lips, grinding her body slowly up and down against him.

"God Em, you're so beautiful" he groaned before unclasping her bra...

* * *

A couple hours later Derek was off to work and sat at the table talking to JJ on the phone.

She missed her friend so much.

As much as she loved all the time she got to spend with Charlotte and now Derek, part of her longed to be back with her team and profiling criminals.

"Well Em she sounds absolutely amazing. We all miss you here and I'm so excited to see you tomorrow!" JJ said

"Me too." Emily replied. Tomorrow was Charlotte's therapy appointment at the FBI office.

She had yet to tell Charlotte about it, and wasn't looking forward to that conversation, but she was looking forward to getting to see her team again.

She heard Charlotte walking down the stairs.

"I've got to go JJ, see you tomorrow!"

"See you!" JJ replied, hanging up

"Hey sweetie" Emily said as Charlotte walked into the kitchen

To Emily's surprise, Charlotte smiled and climbed into her lap, snuggling against her protector.

Emily's heart melted at the sweet gesture.

"Do you want some breakfast?" She asked, rubbing her back.

Charlotte, with her thumb stuck in her mouth nodded.

"Yes plwease." She said, climbing onto the chair next to them, and Emily noticed her wince as her arm pulled herself up.

"What's wrong Charlotte?" Emily asked, full of concern.

"Noffing" Charlotte said shrugging it off

Emily sat back down, "it's ok to tell me, remember I won't be mad at you" she gently reminded her.

Charlotte gingerly rolled up her sleeve where one of her worst burns was still healing.

It was getting much better, but part of the healing process was it blistering over.

Dr. Coves had given Emily some cream to help with the burns, and Emily retrieved it from the counter and gingerly rubbed some on the injury.

Charlotte let out a breath. The cream made the stinging go away.

"Thank you Emiwly" she said gratefully.

Emily smiled. "No problem. Remember you can always tell me when something's hurting you, right?"

Charlotte nodded.

"Ok, good" Emily said. "Now how about some breakfast?"

An hour later Charlotte ate and they both got dressed and ready to go to the aquarium.

Emily could see Charlotte's excitement increasing as they were getting ready.

This time, in the car, Charlotte's head no longer stayed trained down. Emily could see her looking out the window from her car seat in wonder.

When they finally arrived, Charlotte was wiggling to get out of her seat and jumped out of the car, ready to go inside.

Emily couldn't suppress a laugh at how happy she was.

"Come on" she said, holding out her hand.

Thankfully, the aquarium wasn't too crowded, but Emily could still feel Charlotte stiffen from being around so many people.

The poor girl hadn't been out much ever... and only a couple times with Emily, but as soon as they reached the first exhibit, she relaxed completely.

Charlotte spent 3 times as much as any other kid looking at an exhibit. She didn't want to just look at the animals and move on, she wanted to look, read, and ask what seemed like 50 questions about whatever it was to Emily, many of which she didn't know the answers to.

Emily had never seen her have so much fun, and she was thrilled.

After about 3 hours of walking and seeing the animals and getting some lunch in the food court, Emily could see Charlotte tiring out. It had been a long day for her.

But before they left, Emily couldn't resist stopping by the gift shop with Charlotte.

"Why don't you find a new toy or book you'd like?" She said smiling to Charlotte

"Weally?" Charlotte exclaimed, already looking around at all her choices.

She immediately was drawn to a stuffed seal, which was one of her favorite exhibits of the day.

Emily smiled at her choice, not at all surprised, and picked out three kids books about various animals.

Just as they were about to head to checkout, they one of the workers who was setting up a display of "starter fish tank" sets.

"Emiwly" Charlotte said, gently tugging on her shirt. "What's that?" She asked, pointing to the boxes.

The employee cut in. "It's everything you need for a pet fish all in one!" He said. "It comes with a tank, light, food, gravel, plants, and a filter system," He recited.

Charlotte looked up at Emily with confusion written all over her face, then back to the man.

"You can... kewp a pet fish?" She said, confused

"Well... yeah kid" the young employee replied, now confused as well.

Emily sighed, silently cursing Charlotte's so called dad from keeping her from something as simple as a goldfish, but was glad she had the opportunity to fix it now.

"We'll take one of the kits" Emily said to the man

"Oh cool!" He said, carrying one to the register for her. Do you want to pick a fish too? We have some for sale on that wall" he said gesturing.

"What do you think, Char? Want to go pick your own pet fish? Emily asked

Charlotte put her seal down immediately and nodded, speechless with excitement.

She ran over to the wall with the tanks and after a few minutes, found her favorite fish.

After paying for the seal, books, starter kit, and fish, the two made their way back to the car.

Emily wasn't exactly planning on getting a pet that day, but for Charlotte, she just couldn't resist. Besides, she could manage to take care of a goldfish, right?

Not surprisingly, Charlotte was asleep in her car seat before they even made it out of the parking lot.

Back at the house, Emily unloaded all their new things and gently put Charlotte down in her bed.

A couple hours later, after she woke up, they worked together, setting the tank up just right on Charlotte's desk, and Charlotte was mesmerized.

Emily sighed, looking at her watch. She had to get dinner ready and get Charlotte her shower, _and_ they still had to talk about the therapy appointment.

"Do you want to hop in the shower sweetie? Then we can eat dinner?" Emily proposed, knowing Charlotte stilled preferred privacy when she was showering.

Charlotte nodded, still looking at her fish with a smile. "Ok Emiwly."

Once she got Charlotte settled in the shower, Emily went downstairs to make pasta for them, and set aside a small bowl of applesauce and Charlotte's medicine for her.

Once she came down in her pjs, she took her medicine without complaint and started on her pasta.

"Ok, Charlotte, sweetie, I have to talk to you about something." Emily started, dreading their impending conversation...

 **A/N- sorry it took me so long to update! Hopefully I'll be able to write a little more regularly for this now. I've also been working on a law and order svu fanfic. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the story! If you just took a minute and reviewed it that'd be amazing. Your reviews always make my day and help me know how I should continue! Thanks :)**


	12. Mommy

"Ok, Charlotte, sweetie, I have to talk to you about something." Emily started, dreading their impending conversation.

She nodded her understanding and took a bite of pasta. Deciding she liked it, she ate some more of it.

"You know you had to go to the doctors yesterday, so that they could help you feel better."

Emily started.

"I didn't like the doctows" Charlotte said in a quiet voice, and Emily could see sadness creeping on her face.

"Tomorrow we're going to go to a different kind of doctor... but she won't hurt you or even touch you. She's just going to talk with you." Emily told her

Charlotte's brow furrowed and her head drooped a little. "Why?" She asked

"Well, because master treated you in some very mean ways, and the best way to get better from that is to talk about them." Emily explained

Charlotte put her thumb in her mouth and shook her head. "Emiwly I- I don't want to do that" she said.

"I promise that you'll be ok. And I'll be with you in the beginning." She reasoned

Charlotte shook her head a little more definitively this time. "But- but you saiwd I would nevwer hawe to do somephing I didn't want to do anymore" she reminded, and looked up at Emily. Her eyes were full of sadness again, and it was like the light Emily had watched burn in her earlier was suddenly extinguished.

Charlotte felt betrayed.

Emily sighed, "Oh sweetie I know, and I meant that, but I'm only doing this because it will help you. I only want you to get better."

Instinctively, she reached her arm across to comfort Charlotte, and Charlotte instantly tried to dodge the touch, pushing herself back, but went back too much pushing the chair and her backwards onto the ground.

She cried out in pain from her hit and from her anger with Emily.

Emily immediately jumped from her chair and knelt down, checking for any major injuries, and tried to console her, but Charlotte was in full panic mode, and at the sight of her hand desperately tried to get away, and ended up crab crawling/scooting backwards as fast as she could, then balled up against the wall.

Dr. Coves warned Emily with abuse as bad as she had it, this was bound to happen.

There would be times where she would just shut down and as much as Emily wanted to help, she just needed to give her space for her mind to understand that she was safe.

It was one of the many reasons she needed therapy to help her.

It didn't make it any easier on Emily, though to see Charlotte in such pain and not be able to help her without making it worse.

Emily silently cleared the dishes and put the leftover food away, then went in the bathroom and watched in the mirror as a few tears fell from her eyes, too.

 _Tomorrow_ , she reminded herself, _tomorrow won't be easy to get to but it will help Charlotte so much. And you'll see your team. Everything will be ok,_ She told herself.

Emily walked back into the kitchen and saw Charlotte still crouched against the wall, but she was calm again.

Emily walked over and gently scooped her into her arms.

Charlotte didn't have any hesitation before burying herself in Emily's shoulder, grateful for the comfort.

She brought her upstairs and laid her in bed, then sat on the edge.

"Do you remember what happened?" Emily asked kindly

Charlotte nodded. "You said I have to go to doctows and then I fewl"

Emily nodded, "that's right sweetheart. Do you want to talk to me about why you don't want to go talk to the therapist?"

Charlotte hesitated but said, "I don't want to tawk about what master did. It makes me sad"

"Charlotte what master did makes me sad too. But she's just going to talk about you and try to help you with what to do when you feel scared, like you did downstairs. It will all be ok." Emily consoled.

"But what-what if she thinks I'm bad aftew I tawk to hew? Then you not want me." Charlotte said, and Emily's heart shattered.

"Oh Charlotte", she said taking her hand, "I will always want you. No matter what you say or do or what any doctor says. You're stuck with me, understand?" She said

Emily saw just a hint of a smile appearing at Charlotte's lips. "Weally?" She asked

Emily nodded.

"Do you want to read one of the books from the aquarium?"

Charlotte's face lit up, remembering their trip earlier that day and nodded quickly.

"Thank you fow taking me" she said politely

"Anytime love" she replied, "I'm glad you had so much fun!"

After their story, Emily bent down and kissed Charlotte goodnight.

"I'll see you in the morning Char" she said

Charlotte yawned. "I'll see you in the mowning mommy- uh Emiwly. I'm sowry" she corrected quickly.

"Hey Char? It's ok to call me mom, if you want to. You don't have to be sorry." Emily said

Charlotte smiled in relief and nodded before returning her thumb to her mouth and falling back asleep.

 **A/N- I hope you liked this chapter! I'm sorry it was a little sad... but soon Charlotte will get to meet the team and she'll keep making progress! Also, over 3,000 people have viewed this story.. which is amazing! But, (sad face) only 27 have reviewed :( if you have just another second and could leave a review that would be amazing, I love hearing your thoughts so I know where to take the story!**


	13. Rough Night

At around 2 in the morning, Emily was woken up by the loud creak of the floorboard in her room's entrance. She snapped awake immediately and looked up to see the silhouette of a small figure standing in her door way.

The figure cautiously made its way over to Emily's bed, and Emily flipped on her bedside light.

Charlotte stood with tear stained cheeks, clutching Mr. Turtle with on hand and her thumb in her mouth.

"I'm sowry, I'm so sowry!" She said, and fresh tears started flowing down her face.

Emily was barely awake, but she knew she couldn't let Charlotte slip into full panic mode like earlier.

"Shh, it's ok sweetheart. What's wrong?" She soothed

Charlotte didn't say anything, but looked down at her pajamas.

Emily followed her gaze to a wet spot between her legs and gave an inward sigh.

"Oh Charlotte sweetie did you just have an accident?" Emily asked

"I didn't mean to! vewy sowry!" She repeated.

"Oh it's ok love, I promise you I'm not mad." Emily told her, getting up to help Charlotte.

She picked her up and carried her back to her room despite the wetness her arms felt: that wasn't important, Charlotte needed her.

Charlotte was stiff in Emily's arms until she put her down in her room and started the shower.

"Why don't you just hop in and rinse off and I'll get you some new pjs?" Emily asked

Charlotte nodded wearily and went into the bathroom.

Emily put out new pajamas on the sink before outing her old ones, along with the sheets, in the wash.

She remade her bed and waited for Char to come out.

While she was waiting, she texted Derek. "First bed wetting incident. Not surprising but hopefully not the first of many?" She sent, knowing full well he wouldn't see it until morning.

Charlotte came out of the bathroom a couple of minutes still sniffling, but calmer.

"Do you want to come sleep in bed for tonight honey? Emily proposed

Charlotte rubbed her eyes and nodded, "Yes pwease mommy" she answered.

Emily's heart skipped. She couldn't tell if she had called her that because of her tired state or because she wanted to call her mom.

Emily didn't want to get her hopes up but hearing Charlotte call her that made her feel so complete, and she hoped it wouldn't be the only time.

Emily picked Charlotte up and carried her into bed with her.

Charlotte curled up into a small ball in the beds corner and fell asleep almost immediately.

Morning came and Charlotte's nerves were back about visiting another doctor.

Emily used all of her tricks, including letting her pick whatever toys and stuffed animals she wanted with her, letting her pick her outfit, and making her favorite breakfast, but she still was still not happy when they left.

"Remember Charlotte" Emily on the ride there "you're just going to talk. About whatever you want to. And she won't touch you at all. And there's nothing you can tell her that will make me love you any less, ok?"

"Pwease don't make me" Charlotte asked again "I no like the doctows, pwease?"

It was breaking Emily's heart to see her so distressed, and she wished she didn't have to make Charlotte go. But, her case worker would be visiting soon, and if Emily had any hopes of adoption, she needed to show that she was helping Charlotte adjust as much as possible.

Therapy was a nonnegotiable part of that.

"I promise you'll be ok" Emily repeated to her as they parked.

Charlotte let Emily carry her into the building and up the elevators.

The therapist was on the same floor, just a different office section from the BAU.

Since they were early, Emily went to the BAU to be able to reintroduce her team to Charlotte while she was relatively calm.

Although she wasn't crying, Emily could feel how tense Charlotte was, and watched her eyes continuously dart around the new surroundings.

It felt like coming home after a long vacation pushing open the BAU doors, and Emily felt so good being back where she belonged.

"Emily!" JJ was the first to see her friend as she entered with Charlotte in her arms.

The two hugged.

"Charlotte, it's so nice to see you again!" JJ said to the small girl.

Charlotte had her head resting down on Emily's shoulder, but made eye contact with JJ and waved hi to her.

Next was Reid and Rossi who were reviewing a report together.

"Emily hi!" Reid said, giving her a hug.

"Mwah!" Rossi said as he kissed her cheek. "It wasn't the same without you."

"And how are you Charlotte?" Reid asked. Emily could feel Charlotte stiffen more being around two men, but she still waved a polite hello.

Just as the were walking down the hall for the appointment, Derek got off of the elevator and saw them.

"Dewek!" She called, her face brightening up just a little.

"Hey sweet pea!" He said giving her a high five. "Are you ready to meet Dr. Freeman? She's really nice."

Charlotte shrugged and her light dimmed as she put head backs down onto Emily's shoulder.

He exchanged a questioning glance with Emily who nodded that she was ok, then the two proceed to Dr. Freeman's office.

Emily knocked and then went in with Charlotte to find a woman with short brown hair sitting into a chair with some other furniture and toys- clearly meant for kids.

Charlotte started pulling towards Emily's bag, and Emily realized what she wanted and handed her Mr. Turtle for safety.

"Hi Emily!" Dr. Freeman greeted in her usual soothing tone. "And you must be Charlotte." She said with a smile. "It's nice to meet you."

 **Please review! I'll try and get the next chapter up soon.**


	14. Therapy

**Alright guys, so I hate to be like this but hardly anyone has reviewed this lately... so I'm not sure if maybe people just aren't liking it anymore, which is fine.. But I need to know if I should continue, so if I don't get some more reviews I'm not going to continue and work on my other stories! Please let me know!**

"Please take a seat" she offered, gesturing to a couch and beanie bags that were across from her chair.

Emily put Charlotte down on the bean bag chair and went to sit next to her on the couch, but Charlotte immediately got up and went to sit on Emily's lap, too afraid to be without her.

Emily offered an apologetic smile to the therapist who waved it off to tell her it wasn't a big deal.

"So Charlotte I was hoping we could just talk today, would that be alright with you?" Dr. Freeman asked, trying to make eye contact with the child.

Charlotte refused to make eye contact with her, but shrugged to show her consent.

"Great." She said. "How do you like Virginia and living with Agent Emily?"

Charlotte hesitated to answer, but after a minute she began talking.

"I.. I like it" she whispered.

Dr. Freeman smiled to encourage Charlotte to continue. "I eat much more and I hawe my vewy own bedwoom and I get to plway lots." She continued, her voice gaining just a little bit more strength.

"I'm glad to hear that" Dr. Freeman replied. "What do you like to play with?"

"I weally like puzzles and colworing" she offered.

Emily gave her hand a reassuring squeeze to let her know how great she was doing.

She also noted that her speech patterns were much worse that day since she was nervous and made a mental note to talk to Dr. Freeman later about them.

"Puzzles, huh?" Dr. Freeman replied smiling. "I like those too."

Charlotte offered a small smile and some eye contact back. Maybe her mommy was right, talking to her wouldn't be so bad.

"Have you gone anywhere with Emily?" Dr. Freeman asked

Charlotte nodded and sat up a little more. "We went shopping and to the aqua-re-um" she said slowing, trying to pronounce it correctly.

"That sounds like a lot of fun" the doctor said. "Were there other people there?"

Charlotte nodded.

"How did it make you feel to be around more people than just Emily?" She asked

Charlotte shrugged, "Sometimes they were scawry and I didn't wike it but sometimes they were ok." She answered honestly.

Emily was so proud of how well Charlotte was doing.

"Did you go anywhere else? To any other appointments maybe?" Dr. Freeman asked leading her to talk about the pediatrician.

Charlotte nodded slowly and some of her confidence went away, "I went to the doctows office."

Dr. Freeman nodded encouragingly, "A doctor like me?" She asked

Charlotte nodded slowly, "No, it was a differwent one."

"How was it different?" She asked.

"They.. touched me and put all these weird things in my ears and on my stomach." Charlotte answered much quieter, not wanting to elaborate past that.

"How did that make you feel?" Dr. Freeman followed up

Charlotte started to stiffen some and looked up at Emily for reassurance.

"Um..I d- I don't want to tawk about the doctows pwease" Charlotte said, clearly beginning to panic.

Dr. Freeman smiled gently. "That's ok Charlotte. We never have to talk about something you don't want to" she assured.

She pulled out a blank piece of paper and some new crayons from her desk and put them on a kids table next to the couch.

"Do you think maybe you could draw how you felt instead?" She asked

Charlotte shrugged and slowly got up and went to the table to begin her picture.

"Agent Prentiss, why don't you go catch up with your team. I'll walk Charlotte back when we're done." Dr. Freeman requested, excusing her.

Emily nodded, "Thanks" she said, getting up.

"Ok Charlotte, I'll be right down the hall if anything happens, ok?" She said.

As soon as Charlotte nodded Emily left, not wanting to give her time to second guess it.

She walked back into the BAU office and let out a huge breath.

"Hey hey" Derek said, greeting her. "How's she doing?"

"She seemed ok, but they also didn't really talk about anything hard." Emily said, frowning slightly.

"It'll be ok, you know how good Dr. Freeman is" Derek reminded.

Emily nodded. "You're right."

"I saw your text" Derek said. "Do you think it was just nerves?" he asked, referring to last nights bed wetting incident.

"Hopefully" Emily said, "she was pretty distressed over it."

He nodded.

"Derek, I think we should tell Hotch... about us. We need to at some point, and we're both here, and he's here and we're not on a case..." she said

He thought for a minute then nodded his agreement. "Yeah I guess you're right"

The two walked up to Hotch's office. Prentiss knocked twice and Hotch looked up from the paperwork he was focused on.

"Emily, hi" he said, getting up to hug her. "How are you?"

"I'm good Hotch. Charlotte's talking to Dr. Freeman right now."

"That's great" he said, gesturing for them to sit and closing the door. "Jack talked to her after Haley and she was a huge help."

Emily smiled, "I hope so."

She and Derek looked at each other, neither really sure how to bring it up to Hotch.

"Is there.. something you needed to tell me?" He asked, looking between the two of them.

Derek spoke for them. "We needed to inform you and the FBI that were in a relationship" he said.

Hotch looked between them again and laughed.

They looked questioningly at him.

"It's about time" he said, getting some paperwork from his file cabinet. "By Reid's calculations this has been going on for what, two months?"

Surprised again. "We thought we did so well hiding it" Emily said.

"Yeah well apparently not from pretty boy blabber mouth" Derek muttered

Hotch smiled and handed them the forms. "It's just a formality the bureau needs, but there shouldn't be any problems" he said.

Emily let out a huge breath, glad to not have to worry about that anymore.

"Well then I should go start on this fun paperwork... and have a nice chat with Reid" Derek said, excusing himself.

"How are you doing Emily?" Hotch asked again. "What you're doing is not an easy thing..."

"Hotch" she said, cutting him off. "Charlotte's the best thing that ever happened to me. It's tough, but she's getting so much better. Really. The social workers coming in a few days to start talking about legal adoption and if all goes well she should be ready for school pretty soon too."

He smiled. "I'm glad. So what does this mean for the BAU?"

"Well, I still have enough paid vacation to last me... the next 4 months or so, honestly. But obviously won't use all of that. I'll probably need the next couple weeks off though, at least until I can get her settled into a school. Then... I'm not sure. Part time? Full time with a good nanny? I'll make it work." She promised.

"I know you will" he said. "Don't worry about this. Keep doing whatever you can from home and whenever you can come back, we'll be ready to have you." He promised.

As Hotch and Emily were still catching up, Dr. Freeman and Charlotte came back through the BAU doors.

Derek saw them, and got up to meet them.

Charlotte looked a little distressed, but not terribly so.

"Hey Carol" Derek said, getting up to greet them.

"Agent Morgan" she said with a smile, shaking his hand.

"Hi Charlotte" he said, looking down.

She offered a small smile and took her thumb out of her mouth. "Hi Dewerk"

"Emily's still talking to Hotch. I could stay with Charlotte in the conference room?" He offered.

"That'd be great. I need to talk to her when she comes out."

Derek lead Charlotte up to the conference room and got her a juice pouch, then sat down next to her.

"Nice shirt" he said, looking at the yellow butterfly stitched onto her shirt.

"Thank you" she said politely.

"Dewerk?" She said unsurely. "Puzzle?" She asked, referring to their code cord to talk from a couple nights ago.

He nodded. "I'm all ears sweetie"

"Dr. Fweeman wanted me to tawk about master... but I didn't want to. And I don't want Mommy to be mad" she said.

Derek couldn't help but smile when Charlotte referred to Emily as mommy.

"I promise you she won't be, Char. She's going to be really proud of you staying and talking to her, just like I am, ok?" He said.

She nodded.

Outside, Emily was talking with Dr. Freeman about the rest of their appointment while Charlotte told Derek all the new fact she had learned from the aquarium.

"She did really well Agent Prentiss" Dr. Freeman said. "The level of abuse she went through physically and mentally was very significant, especially on someone so young. I'm very impressed with how well she's adjusting. But, she will need regular therapy. With me or someone else, at least once or twice a week."

Emily nodded.

"She also likes to use art to express her feelings, which is good. She drew this" she said, showing Emily a picture of the doctors exam table with black scribbled over it "for the doctors and this," she said, showing her a different picture of red slashes "when I asked her about Hosben. She wasn't ready to open up about Hosben, or even too much about the doctors and now wasn't the time to push her. But she is likely to start opening up more to you at home. Always listen to her, and if it's a good time, encourage her to draw how she feels and bring them to appointments. I unfortunately have to run but I'll call you later for any questions you might have." Dr. Freeman said.

"Thank you so much Carol" Emily replied gratefully.

"Of course" she said with a smile, then went back to her office.

Emily couldn't help but smile when she looked into the conference room and saw Derek and Charlotte talking and laughing, and she went up to join them.

"Hi mommy" Charlotte said, happy to see Emily again.

"Sweetheart I'm _so_ proud of you! You did such a good job." She said, wrapping her in a hug.

Charlotte smiled, proud of the praise she got.

Derek grinned too. "Charlotte, maybe if it's ok with Mom I'll bring dinner tonight and we can red to you again?" He proposed.

Charlotte nodded enthusiastically. "I want to show you my fish!" She said smiling.

"Sounds great" Emily told him.

"Alright, how about we stop for ice cream on the way home?" She asked Charlotte. They had gotten some at the aquarium and she loved it.

"Yes pwease" Charlotte said, happily.

She gave Derek a hug goodbye then got back into Emily's arms, relieved to be done with the doctors for now and very relieved to be back with her mom.

 **Review if you want the story to be continued!**


	15. Ice Cream & Bad Dreams

On the way home they stopped at one of Emily's favorite places- a homemade ice cream shop.

Charlotte was happy but got overwhelmed quickly by the rows and rows of different flavors, so Emily ordered her a kids strawberry with rainbow sprinkles and got herself a vanilla, both in cups.

Then they sat at one of the tables to enjoy their treats.

"Thank you fow the ice cweam" Charlotte told her.

"Of course sweetie" Emily said, smiling. "So how was it talking to Dr. Freeman after I left?"

Charlotte gave her usual shrug.

"She was nice but I didw't want to tawk about a lot of things she wanted to." She paused, and a look of worry replaced her calm one. "Did I make her mad? I didw't mean to! I'm sowry." She said.

"She's not mad at you and neither am I, I promise. You never have to talk about something if you don't want to. No one will be mad at you for that." Emily soothed.

Charlotte nodded wearily and focused on eating her ice cream.

Emily gave her a minute to calm back down before saying, "Charlotte do you think it'd be ok if you talked to Dr. Freeman more? We could go every week."

Charlotte thought for a minute. She didn't want to make her mommy mad, no matter what. She didn't mind Dr. Freeman, but she also didn't like her too much. She was still skeptical of her. She wanted her to talk about master and the doctors and other things that Charlotte didn't like talking about... but she also couldn't risk making anyone mad.

She nodded slowly. "Will you still be with me fow some of it?" She asked hopefully.

Emily nodded, "Of course sweetheart" relieved that she wouldn't have to find a way to get Charlotte to go every week.

Charlotte nodded and finished her ice cream. Emily could see she was getting tired. She threw away their trash and lifted Charlotte's tiny frame and carried her outside.

As soon as they got home, Emily brought Charlotte upstairs so she could sleep and texted Derek for a while.

She decided to throw in some laundry and went in Charlotte's room to retrieve her dirty clothes.

Just as she was leaving the door she heard whimpering behind her and turned to see Charlotte's eyes clenched shut and her small body thrashing back and forth.

Emily put the clothes down immediately and went to her bedside to wake her from the nightmare.

"Charlotte wake up honey" she said, gently shaking her shoulder.

Nothing.

"Sweetie you're safe, wake up now." She tried again, and this time her body retracted weakly and her eyes snapped awake, darting around and filled with tears.

"Mommy" she said, voice breaking and scampered over to curl on her lap.

"Shh, you're ok Charlotte" Emily said, rubbing circles onto her back. "You're ok sweetie"

Charlotte's tears continued to fall and Emily gently lifted her so she was sitting upright, but wrapped her arm around her in support and continued rocking to calm her.

She waited patiently until the tears turned into sniffles before asking, "What happened in the dream?"

Charlotte shook her head, indicating she didn't want to talk about it.

"You can tell me sweetheart, it'll help." She encouraged.

"M-mm-m mastew came back and he killed you like he killed mommy!" She said, now collapsing back into sobs.

"Oh sweetie" was all Emily could say as she kept rubbing her back.

She waited a moment before continuing, "Charlotte he won't hurt me or you or anyone anymore, it's ok."

A few minutes later, Charlotte had calmed down enough to draw a picture of what she was feeling for Emily to bring back to Dr. Freeman, and Emily made them lunch.

Charlotte gave Emily her drawing, this one filled with dark x's on the pages and the word "no" written in the middle that had been drawn with she force it started to rip through the page.

Emily shook her head in disgust for Hosben and put the drawing in her office to bring to the next therapy appointment

After they ate, Charlotte kept working on her rubix cube until she solved it, and they read a few more books before baking cupcakes together.

Charlotte concentrated very hard on her job of stirring the ingredients and Emily couldn't help but laugh some at her, brows furrowed in concentration, working on perfectly stirring.

After they were out, the two set to work decorating the, with frosting, sprinkles, m&ms, and any other candies they could find in Emily's kitchen.

Charlotte was especially proud of her creations, and enjoyed getting to bake them with her mom.

After working to get all the frosting off Charlotte's hands, face, and shirt, they were ready for Derek, who arrived soon after.

"Hey" Emily greeted, opening the door and giving him a quick peck on the lips. "She's working on redoing her rubix cube in the living room.

He laughed, "she's gonna love Reid when she gets to know him"

Emily smiled in agreement, and the two went and sat on either side of the Charlotte on the couch.

Charlotte put her work down, happy to be surrounded by Derek and her Mom.

"Hi Dewek!" She greeted with a smile.

He quickly kissed her head. "Hey Char. That's a nice looking rubix cube you have."

She smiled and worked on it for a little with then, then the three went to enjoy dinner.

After dinner, Charlotte picked out one of her best cupcakes for Derek to have, who way over exaggerated how much her loved it making Charlotte giggle.

Once they had cleaned up, they returned to the couch to continue a movie she and Emily had been watching about dolphins.

About a half hour in, Charlotte was asleep with her body curled up on Derek's lap and her head resting on Emily's.

Smiling, Emily cradled her as she picked her up and the two brought her upstairs into her bed and gently put her to bed before returning to Emily's room.

"So she liked Carol?" Derek asked once the two of them were in bed.

Emily nodded, "she agreed to go back and talk to her which was better than I as expecting."

He nodded. "So apparently it wasn't just Reid, but the rest of the team that knew about us" he told her with an annoyed look.

"I definitely thought we hid it better" she agreed with a smile.

Soon, the two were also asleep, Derek's arms wrapped across Emily's waist, but a couple hours later, Emily felt a smaller set of arms gently shaking her.

Her eyes opened to see Charlotte at the bed side again, clutching her stuffed seal.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" She asked, sitting up and waking Derek.

"I-I ha" and Emily looked down to see an identical wet spot between her legs like the night before.

"Ok, it's ok" she reassured her, flipping on the lamp and getting out of bed.

Derek also started getting up to help Emily but Charlotte panicked upon seeing him.

She was too embarrassed and didn't want him to see her like that too.

He took the hint and stayed in bed while Emily helped her rinse off and get changed into fresh pajamas while changing her sheets with the now clean ones from last night.

She came out and stumbled towards towards Emily, very tired.

"Mommy, can I sweep with you again?" She asked

Emily smiled. "Of course you can honey" and carried her back into bed with her.

Charlotte fit perfectly between Derek and Emily, and snuggled against them both.

She slept through the rest of the night without any more accidents or nightmares; for she was safe with Derek and her mom.

 **A/N Thank you for the reviews! It motivated me to write this chapter tonight. Please keep them coming, I love reading them! :)**


	16. Errands & Social Worker

Morning came too early for Derek. He wished he could sleep in with Emily and Charlotte, but the BAU needed him, too.

He turned and looked at the clock which read 5:43- he needed to get up or he'd be late. He looked down to see Charlotte's head snuggled on his shoulder and moved her very gently to get out of bed, not wanting to wake her.

Despite his best efforts, she stirred and her eyes fluttered open.

"Dewek?" She whispered

"Go back to sleep sweetheart, I just have to go to work, I'll be back later."

She nodded and closed her eyes again, falling asleep in an instant.

He smiled looking at his two princesses snuggled against each other before getting dressed and getting in the car.

A few hours later, Emily woke up and smiled when she saw Charlotte snuggled against her.

She carefully slid out of bed leaving Charlotte to rest a little longer, and went downstairs to make eggs for them.

Looking in the fridge she saw that she would have to go grocery shopping soon, and planned that along with a few other errands for the day. Later in the afternoon, a social worker would come to check in on Charlotte's transition and talk about full legal adoption.

As far as Emily was concerned, she didn't have a single doubt in her mind that she wanted Charlotte to be her daughter forever- but she still had to work through the legal system... which unfortunately was slow and complicated.

But for Charlotte, anything was worth it.

Emily finished making breakfast and set it out before going upstairs to wake Charlotte.

Once she got into her room she saw Charlotte sitting up, and she had recently been crying.

Emily went to her immediately, thinking she had just had another nightmare.

"What happened sweetheart?" She asked, scooping the small girl into her arms to comfort her.

"I-I woke up and you and Dewek were gowne. It was scawy." She confided

"It's ok honey, I'm here now. I promise I'll never leave you, ok? I'm here." She said, continuing to cuddle her until she was calmed again, and Emily took her downstairs for breakfast.

Emily didn't know how many times she could take seeing Charlotte so broken.

Each time she saw her face in tears, it was like her heart shattered over and over again.

Nothing that this precious child did was her fault, and she wished, like any mother, that she could take all her pain and sadness away from her.

"So, I was thinking we could go to the grocery store to get some food, and maybe the pet store to get some more things for Finny's (her fish) tank, and pick out some new clothes since it's been so warm?"

Charlotte nodded enthusiastically, and Emily went to help her get dressed.

It was a warm day outside, but Charlotte still insisted on wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt.

Her bruises, cuts, and burns, looked much better, but they were still very noticeable and Emily could tell how self-conscious Charlotte felt about them, so she let her wear what she wanted.

Once she was dressed and ready, she went downstairs to color while Emily got changed and finished paperwork needed for the social worker coming later, and then the two were off.

The first stop was the grocery store, where Charlotte sat in the cart and loved watching Emily pick all the foods out. She had never seen so much food in one place before!

Emily loaded the cart full of fruits, yogurt, eggs, pasta, chicken, chicken nuggets, lettuce, bagels, bread, kids cereal, cheese, milk, apple juice, hotdogs, and pretzels.

She also let Charlotte pick some ice cream flavors and cookies.

One hour and an overflowing cart later, the two made their way to checkout and Charlotte very diligently helped unload.

"What a great little helper you have" she checkout clerk said with a wink, making Charlotte giggle.

Emily was so happy to see her feeling more comfortable in public places.

Next, they went to the pet store and got new food and fake plants for Finny's tank, and finally stopped at Target.

Emily carried Charlotte over to a display with colorful kids tank tops paired with different bright shorts and skirts, but Charlotte wasn't interested.

"I hawe enough clothes" she insisted.

"Let's just pick some for warmer days, like today" Emily said, but Charlotte didn't want to choose any. Emily put her down and she walked one display over, which still had long sleeve shirts paired with leggings.

"Charlotte how about we get shorts and tee shirts too?" She said.

Charlotte shook her head.

"How come?" Emily asked patiently.

"I don't want anywone to see them" she said looking down, referring to her injuries.

Emily could tell she was embarrassed. "Hey, look at me love" she said, kneeling down so she was level with Charlotte.

"They'll fade. They'll go away very soon, they're just still healing for now. But you never have to be embarrassed of them, ok? They just need some time." She told her

Charlotte was still a little embarrassed but nodded, and even picked out a few shirts and shorts she liked.

Emily also couldn't help but get a new brain teaser, full sized rubix cube, and puzzle despite Charlotte insisting she didn't need any more toys.

Emily knew she was spoiling her some, but how could she not?

After everything Charlotte had been through she deserved every toy in the world.

Once they checked out, Charlotte seemed to be in a much better mood after starting to understand that her injuries would soon be gone and having new toys.

After driving home and unloading everything, Charlotte got right to work on her new puzzle while Emily made her chicken nuggets for lunch.

Not surprisingly, she had already put together a good part of the puzzle in the short time it took Emily to make them lunch.

"So Charlotte, someone's going to come visit later." Emily began explaining as they ate.

"Dewek?" She asked, hopeful.

Emily smiled. "He can too, but a different person will be coming. She's going to see if you like being here so I can adopt you."

"What's that mewn?" She asked

"It means that you could stay here with me and Derek and everyone else forever, and grow up here. Is that something you'd like?" She replied

Charlotte smiled. "When I was with mastew, I was sad a lot. But hewe, I don't fewl sad anymowe. I want to stay hewe. Pwease." She said

Emily got up and gave her a hug.

 _How did I get so lucky?_ She thought.

Usually by this time, Charlotte would take a nap, but she didn't seem too tired, so she and Emily continued working on her puzzle and coloring throughout the afternoon.

At around 4, the doorbell rang, and the social worker came inside.

Charlotte was a little nervous about someone she didn't know being there, but as long as Emily was with her, she didn't mind.

The case worker came and sat at the table where Charlotte was drawing and introduced herself.

"So Charlotte, do you like it here with Emily?" She asked

Charlotte nodded without any hesitation. "I love it." She replied.

The worker smiled. "I see you like drawing. What else have you done here?" She asked

"We go shopping, and watch movies, and bake, and wead, and we went to the aqawiwum."

"That sounds like lots of fun" the worker agreed. "Can I see your room?"

Charlotte looked towards her mom in question. "Go ahead sweetheart" she encouraged, and the three went upstairs.

After a few more questions, Charlotte went back to drawing at the table while the case worker talked to Emily.

"Well, Agent Prentiss, she certainly does seem happy. And very attached. And I see here she's been to the doctor and a therapist, which is good. I also see you've indicated you want to adopt?" She asked

Emily nodded. "Absolutely."

The case worker smiled, "I'm glad to hear that. After everything she's been through, she deserves a good home. It's still a process, with more interviews, and visits. I'd recommend starting to look at school options and your work schedule as well to limit any hesitations a judge will have. But, I see no reasons why you shouldn't be able to adopt her very soon. Congratulations." She told her.

A few minutes later, after she had left, Emily still felt so happy she could burst. Soon, Charlotte would be hers.

She couldn't believe it.

 **Please review! If you have any ideas- places you want them to go, things to do, people to meet, put it in the reviews! I want to keep writing this but I need some new ideas from you guys :)**


	17. Progress

An hour later Emily and Charlotte were finishing bowls of ice cream when Emily's phone buzzed.

She pulled it out of her pocket, expecting a text from Derek, but saw 'Hotch' on the screen instead.

"Hi Emily. Were having one last BBQ get together before the weather gets cold, tomorrow at my place to celebrate getting through this week. The whole team will be there. You and Charlotte are welcome to come too, but I understand if she's not ready. You can come anytime after noon. Let me know. Have a good night."

Emily always thought Aaron's texts were hilarious- they were always written with correct punctuation and a paragraph long. He didn't quite understand the difference between texting and emailing.

Regardless, she decided a BBQ would be good for her and Charlotte. It would give Emily a chance to see and talk with her team some more, and Charlotte a chance to interact and get to know them, and to play with Jack and Henry.

She glanced at the clock and saw it was getting late; she should get Charlotte showered and to bed soon.

Going into the living room, she could see Charlotte's new puzzle was about halfway done which was pretty impressive considering it's complexity.

"That looks great Charlotte" she said, smiling with pride.

Charlotte smiled too. "T'ank you"

She continued to work on it but paused after a second, putting the piece in her hand down.

"Mommy, what did the pewson that was hewe say?" She asked

Emily smiled and sat on the ground next to her, "She said that you can stay here and live here as long as you want to."

Charlotte's face lit up with relief and happiness.

"So, tomorrow Aaron who you met before is having a little party at his house, and Derek and JJ and everyone you met will be there. Do you want to go?" Emily asked

Charlotte contemplated it for a second. "You be thewe too?" She asked

Emily nodded, "You bet" she said

Charlotte nodded her consent to go and yawned.

"I think it's time to get a shower and some sleep!" Emily laughed, taking Charlotte in her arms.

Emily started Charlotte's shower, laid out her pjs, and helped her get undressed as usual, then started to leave since Charlotte typically still felt uncomfortable with anyone seeing her undressed.

But as Emily went to leave the bathroom, Charlotte stopped her.

"Uh, Mommy?" She shyly spoke up. "Could you pwease help me? It hawd to do by mysewf"

Emily was surprised but so happy that Charlotte was feeling comfortable enough around her to ask for help.

It was a big step for her.

"Of course sweetheart" she replied as Charlotte got into the shower.

After she stood in the water for a minute, Emily poured some shampoo in her hand and gently massaged it into her hair, then helped her rinse it as Charlotte washed her arms and legs with soap.

After she was finished, Emily turned off the facet, wrapped her small body in a towel, and lifted her out of the shower.

Once she was dried off, she let Emily put the balm on her healing bruises and the cream on her healing burns, then she helped her get changed into her pjs.

"Do they hurt still?" Emily asked, concerned that some of her injuries seemed to be looking worse then before.

Charlotte shrugged. She was worried she'd have to go back to the doctor if she said they did and was trying to avoid that.

"Sweetheart you have to be honest and tell me if something's bothering you so I can help." She reminded, sensing that Charlotte was holding back.

"They huwt a wittle" she admitted, then got up and went to the sink, trying to escape the conversation.

Emily decided to let it go for now but would need to carefully monitor the injuries.

Charlotte brushed her teeth while Emily gently combed through her hair, then put her old clothes in the hamper for her.

"Why don't you use the bathroom now?" She suggested, trying to avoid another accident that night.

Charlotte looked slightly embarrassed but did so, then came out and climbed into bed, exhausted.

She was out cold before Emily was halfway through the book.

Smiling, Emily carefully pulled up the covers so she couldn't be cold, then put Mr. Turtle and her stuffed seal next to her for comfort.

She couldn't help but watch her sleeping angel for a minute.

Before, it seemed like she was only calm when she was asleep, but Emily could see her calm and comfortable more and more as she was awake, and she couldn't wait for the day when she never felt fear and apprehension.

It was still a long ways away, but she was making progress everyday.

After watching her for one more minute, Emily went to get herself ready for bed.

She too, was out cold pretty soon, but a few hours later, she felt Charlotte's small arm shaking her shoulder.

She sat up seeing Charlotte's tear stained face.

"Oh sweetheart, did you have another accident?" She asked

Charlotte shook her head no, gripping Mr. Turtle tight. "I-I had a bad dweam" she whispered, and a single tear escaped her eye.

"Shh, you're ok sweetie" Emily comforted, lifting Char into bed with her.

Charlotte's tears continued to fall now, and she cried, still frightened from her dream.

They seemed so real to her.

"Shh, it's ok. I'm here. You're safe now Charlotte, it's ok" Emily murmured, calming her down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, once she stopped crying.

She sniffled and shook her head no as Emily rubbed her back to comfort her.

"Mommy?" She whispered after a minute. "I don't ever want to go back to mastew"

"You won't ever have to" Emily said firmly. "I promise. You will never see him every again."

Charlotte nodded, comforted by her mothers words and presence.

"I'm sowry mommy" she sniffled

"You never have to be sorry Charlotte. I'll always be here, whenever you need me." Emily told her "I'm right here, just try and go back to sleep."

Emily continued to rub circles on her back until she did eventually drift back off to sleep.

Reviews make writers happy :) As always I'm open to your ideas of what you want to see and will be incorporating them into later chapters!


	18. To the BBQ

Emily and Charlotte both slept peacefully through the rest of the night.

Around 9 Emily's phone buzzed and woke her with a new text from Derek. "How was the social worker? How's Charlotte? Are you coming to Hotch's today?"

She smiled and typed back, "Great, pretty good, and yes. I'll fill you in there :)"

"Leaving me in suspense... ;) see you soon" he replied back.

Emily carefully rolled out of bed and put a bathrobe on, then started out of the room.

"Mommy?" Charlotte whimpered no longer feeling her protectors presence, and Emily returned back to the bedside.

"Shh, I'm here sweetie, I'm just going to make breakfast. You can go back to sleep" Emily told her.

Charlotte nodded, returning her thumb to her mouth and soon drifted back off to sleep.

Emily took a quick shower, got dressed, then went downstairs to make pancakes, Charlotte's favorite.

Just as she got out a bowl and ingredients, she heard the patter of Charlotte's tiny feet coming down the stairs, and she walked into the kitchen with her thumb still in her mouth.

"Hey love" Emily greeted, gently lifting her onto one of the island stools.

Charlotte instinctively tensed at the sudden touch and Emily kicked herself for not asking Charlotte to pick her up.

Even though it was such a simple thing, she couldn't take things for granted with Char, and she never wanted to scare her.

She had enough fear in her short life to last a lifetime.

Her last few days had been a little bit all over the place: in some areas, Emily could see immense progress, but in some other ways, she was reminded of just how long the process of making Charlotte feel truly safe would be.

But she was so proud of her and all of the steps she had made.

She was a fighter, just like Emily.

"Do you want to help make pancakes?" Emily asked after beginning to mix ingredients.

Charlotte nodded enthusiastically. She loved helping her mom.

Together, she and Emily put in the eggs, flour, butter, sugar, and other ingredients into s bowl, and Charlotte stirred them all together as Emily put the heat on under a pan.

"Perfect" Emily praised, moving the mixed bowl to the counter to cook the pancakes. "Thanks for your help!"

Charlotte smiled shyly. "T'ank you fow bweakfast." she replied

A few minutes later, the two sat at the island enjoying their pancakes together.

Emily could see by how many she ate that they were definitely one of Charlotte's favorite foods.

Once they had finished, Emily washed their dishes then helped Charlotte wash the syrup off of her hands.

"Ready to get dressed?" Emily asked

Charlotte nodded

"Race ya upstairs" Emily said with a grin.

Charlotte grinned back, "Go!" She called, already sprinting off towards the staircase then half running/ half crawling up it as fast as her small frame would allow.

"Hey- no fair!" Emily called chasing her up to her room

Charlotte giggled in reply and made it to her room first. She jumped onto her bed, grinning in victory, and panting from her sprint upstairs.

Emily appeared a second later, bracing herself in the doorway. "I'll get you one of these times" she promised with a smile, then went over and opened her dresser drawers.

Charlotte jumped down from her bed and joined her, looking at her clothes.

"I looked at the weather today, and it's going to be warm outside. Why don't you wear these new shorts we got?" Emily proposed, holding up the pair from target she had picked.

Charlotte shook her head. "Can I pwease wear my leggings?" She asked, still too self conscious to let anyone, including Emily, see her injuries if she didn't have to.

Emily's mouth twisted to the side in contemplation, and she looked at Charlotte, trying to figure this out with her.

Charlotte didn't understand her expression, and viewed it as anger.

"No" she whispered, starting to walk backwards. "No I sowwy, I wear showts. I sowry p'ease no huwt?" She asked, as her words were growing more fearful.

She hit her bed as she was walking backwards and jumped at the unexpected touch. It all happened so fast, and Emily could see that her breathing was increasing quickly as she crouched on the ground trying to protect herself from the beating that she wasn't going to get.

Not anymore.

Emily put the shorts down and knelt by Charlotte before her panic attack could worsen.

"Charlotte I won't hurt you, remember? You're ok, breathe." She said calmly, taking deep breaths to show her. "That's it, keep breathing." She encouraged

Charlotte's knees were still pulled up against her chest and her breathing was shaky, but after a minute with Emily helping her she calmed it down.

Emily gently combed her hair back from in front of her face, "Remember love, you'll always be safe here. And you don't have to feel upset about the injuries, they're going away every day." She reminded

Charlotte nodded and looked back up at Emily, who gave her a sad smile then lifted her to her feet and walked back over to her dresser drawers.

Emily pulled out a pair of purple and a pair of green leggings. "Which one?" She asked Charlotte, trying to give her options she'd feel comfortable with.

Charlotte, relieved, pointed to the purple ones.

She also chose a white long sleeve shirt with pink and blue flowers on it.

Even though it was long sleeved, Emily noted that the material was light, so she wouldn't be too hot outside.

Emily did blond hair in two braids, complete with small pink bows on the ends.

Charlotte smiled at her reflection, happy with her outfit choice and hair style, then fed Finny, went back downstairs and worked on her puzzle while Emily did some paperwork.

An hour later, Emily finished making a pasta salad to bring, and packed a bag with Mr. Turtle, the stuffed sea lion, and her rubix cube for Charlotte.

Once Char strapped on her light up sneakers, the two went out to the car to drive to Aaron's house.

The drive was short and uneventful, and they arrived around 12:20. She could see that JJ, Reid, and Derek's cars were there, but the others had yet to arrive.

With Charlotte safely on her hip, Emily took them around the side of the house and opened the white gate into the Hotchner's backyard.

"Hey Emily!" Aaron called as they entered, and walked down the stairs to greet them.

"Jack, come here buddy" he called to his son, who was passing a soccer ball with Henry.

Jack jogged over and gave Emily a hug.

"Hey Jack!" She greeted, and set Charlotte down.

"It's good to see you again, Charlotte" Hotch said with a smile.

"Hi! I'm Jack" he introduced to Charlotte, "wanna come play with us?" He asked

Charlotte looked up at Emily expectantly.

"Go ahead sweetheart" she encouraged.

Charlotte was still a little unsure, but soccer looked fun, and when Jack ran off, she followed and began to play with them.

Aaron and Emily both smiled at the sight.

They walked up on the deck where the rest of the team was and she took a seat next to Derek.

"Hey sugar" he greeted, giving her a peck on the cheek.

Emily immediately looked at him, shocked, before she remembered that the team now knew they were together, and let out a laugh with the rest of the team.

She was happy to be back with them.

 **Please review! Your thoughts and ideas are always appreciated, and I promise I will be incorperating your ideas into upcoming chapters! Reading your reviews makes** **me smile and want to write more for you all! :)**


	19. Team BBQ

Within 10 minutes, the rest of the team arrived and all got food then sat on the back deck together.

Emily was keeping a watchful eye on Charlotte, but so far she seemed to be getting along pretty well with Jack and Henry.

Emily was relieved. Being able to play with kids her own age was a good sign, especially as she'd have to start looking into school soon enough.

"So Emily, how's she doing? What did the social worker say?" Aaron asked, interrupting her thoughts.

Emily cleared her throat. "Ups and downs. But she's made so much progress, I'm really proud of her" she said, smiling. "So far we've found out that she loves the aquarium, fish, and puzzles."

Reid nodded his head and interjected, "You know, statistically, children who engage in puzzles at a younger age develop different fine motor skills and problem solving receptors in the brain which-"

"Pretty boy" Morgan said, playfully slapping his arm and effectively ending his rant. "Let her talk"

"Right.. sorry" he said, grinning. He didn't look sorry at all.

Emily continued, smiling, "But she's amazing, I'm just so happy that she's here and that everything worked out... And the social worker came yesterday and said that I'd be able to adopt her soon." She finished, her previously small smile breaking out into a huge grin.

The teams reactions were a mix of surprise and joy.

"Congratulations to you both, my dear" Rossi said, getting up and kissing her on both cheeks.

"Ooo!!" Penelope squealed, "I knew it I knew it I KNEW it!! Didn't I tell you JJ?" She asked her friend.

"You did" JJ replied, "and I completely agreed with you. I'm so happy for you, Em" she said, giving her a hug, "and for Charlotte."

"Ah, speaking of.." Hotch said as Charlotte, Henry and JJ ran up the steps and ran to Aaron, Emily, and JJ.

"We're hungry!" Henry pouted, as JJ tried to brush off leaves from his clothes.

"Well I think we can fix that" Hotch answered, pointing to the table full of food.

"Mommy?" Charlotte asked, looking up expectantly. She wasn't quite sure to serve the food.

"Here sweetie, lets go together and you can pick what you want to eat." Emily told her.

Charlotte nodded gratefully as Emily lifted her from her lap to her arms and walked to the table.

The agents watched in awe. They could just tell the bond they had from how they acted together.

"Ok" Emily said once they reached the table. "Do you want some..pasta salad?" Emily asked

Charlotte nodded. "Yes pwease," she answered as Emily scooped some onto her plate.

"How about a hotdog?" Emily asked her, and Charlotte nodded again.

After loading the plate with other food, Emily and Charlotte made their way back to the table with everyone sitting and the kids ate their food.

Out of the corner of her eye, Emily saw Derek get a phone call and go inside.

He figured it was his mom or sisters; they were some of the few people that called instead of texted him.

"Hey Charlotte" Reid asked gently once she finished her food. "I heard you learned how to do a rubix cube, I love doing them! Can I see?" He asked, successfully beginning to build trust with her.

Charlotte looked to Emily who smiled and handed her the cube, then tentatively walked over to him and twisted the cube the last few times it needed before being solved.

"No way!" Spencer said. "I used to love doing these. Thanks for showing me, Charlotte" he said with a smile.

"You twy it?" She asked carefully, holding it out.

"Sure" he said with a small laugh, and proceeded to solve it every which way, including behind his back and with his eyes closed.

Charlotte was mesmerized, and Spencer was happy to be building a good relationship with her.

After a few more minutes, the kids went to play and the agents continued to talk.

After checking that Charlotte was doing fine with the kids, Emily went inside to find Derek.

He was still talking on the phone as she entered the living room.

"O-ok mom, yes I promise!" He said smiling. "Love you too, talk to you later" he replied a minute later, and hung up.

Emily walked up to him behind the couch. "Your mom?" She guessed. He nodded.

Emily wrapped her arms around his waist pulling herself closer to him.

"Isn't it nice to not have to worry about the others finding out?" She said seductively

He let out a small groan as she used her knee to gently grind against him.

"Em, were in Hotch's house" he reminded smiling, ending her advancement with a quick kiss on her lips.

"Fine, we'll just have to continue later" she promised.

He grinned "Sounds like a plan."

"So what did your mom need?" She asked

"To hear about Charlotte. She's coming to visit next week and insists on meeting her. I know that's totally up to you and Charlotte, I just-"

"No, I would love for your mom to meet her" Emily said sincerely.

Her heart fluttered at the thought that her mom was going to be meeting Char.

Things between her and Derek were getting pretty serious pretty quickly, and Fran meeting Charlotte would be a big step.

Emily was pulled from her thoughts when she heard very faint sobbing outside.

She may have been in a different room, but the crys were unmistakeable: they were Charlotte's.

She swiftly walked out the door and saw Charlotte in the deck corner, crouched down and crying.

JJ was trying to calm her down and the rest of the team stood back and watched carefully, not wanting to overwhelm the hurt child.

"What happened?" Emily asked, exasperated.

"The man next door is not too fond of kids...or anything really. From what I gather one of them kicked the ball over the fence and he yelled at Charlotte and threw it back near her. She got pretty shook up." Aaron replied, his voice laced with anger.

Emily calmly approached Charlotte's small, shaking body.

JJ, to her credit, had done a pretty good job getting Charlotte calmed.

She was still silently crying, but her breathing was normal and she was aware of her surroundings.

But when she saw Emily she clicked back and walked into the open arms she held out for Charlotte.

Emily gently wrapped her in a hug then lifted her up and set her on her lap.

A few minutes later, she was ok, thanks to Emily.

A/N- please kept reviewing especially with ideas! You all are amazing!


	20. Soap?

The rest of the BBQ was uneventful. They all enjoyed ice cream much to Charlotte's delight, and everyone enjoyed being together _not_ having to catch criminals.

Charlotte didn't feel comfortable leaving Emily again, but did engage in conversations with all the agents while Henry and Jack played again.

Emily was glad to see her more comfortable around her friends, and the agents all adored her.

Around 6:30, Charlotte was curling into a ball in Emily's lap, and Emily knew she'd fall asleep there if she didn't take her home. Besides, it was starting to get dark.

They said their goodbyes to the team and Emily carried Charlotte to the car and buckled her in.

Derek left a couple minutes after, also going to Emily's house.

When they got home, Charlotte was awake, but only barely.

Emily picked her up and she wrapped her small body around her and leaned her head on her shoulder.

Emily took her upstairs while Derek unpacked her stuffed animals from Emily's bag.

Charlotte let Emily undress her and put a night gown, and once they were done, Derek came in with Mr. Turtle and seal as well as a book.

Charlotte smiled and climbed into bed, ready for her story. She loved it when her Mom _and_ Derek tucked her in. Emily and Derek took turns reading pages throughout the book.

Once they were done, Derek pulled up the covers and Emily kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight sweetheart, see you in the morning." Emily whispered

Charlotte closed her eyes and whispered back, "Goodnight Mommy and Dewek" before drifting off to sleep.

Emily's heart melted yet again at being called "mommy" It'd never get old.

Once they left her room and got into Emily's, the agents didn't waste anytime.

Derek shed his shirt while Emily got into bed.

Derek joined her and unbuttoned the first few buttons on her shirt: just enough to reveal her bra, before kissing down her neck and collarbone.

Emily pulled herself against him and planted a deep kiss on his lips. His lips parted and let her tongue in while his hands explored her body...

* * *

At around 6:30 Derek woke up and see Emily still sound asleep next to him. He rolled his eyes at the clock. Even on his day off, his body still thought he needed to be awake.

After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to fall back asleep, he accepted defeat and decided to go make breakfast for the three of them.

But before he could make it to the stairs, he saw the light on in Charlotte's room.

Knowing the girl usually slept in, he slowly went inside to check that she didn't have another accident or bad dream.

Derek panicked for a second when he saw she wasn't on her bed, but then saw the bathroom door ajar.

He gently knocked on the open door and saw the girl desperately searching through the cabinets in her bathroom with tear stained cheeks.

He quickly looked and didn't see any wet spot on her night gown or bed, so ruled out an accident.

She turned around, startled by him.

"I sowwy, Dewek! No huwt pwease, I sowry!" She said quickly before Derek could even stop her.

He could see how panicked she was getting and quickly knelt down to her level.

"Charlotte, shhh" he said gently "breathe baby girl, I won't hurt you. Just calm down" he instructed.

She took a few shaky breaths and her eyes stopped darting around.

"That's it, you're ok. I want you to tell me what happened" he said

Charlotte looked embarrassed. "I- I uh"

"What were you looking for sweetheart?" He asked

She shrugged. "Soap?" She replied, it coming out more as a question.

He raised an eyebrow, knowing she was lying. "Soap" he repeated doubtfully.

She nodded questioningly.

"Come on Charlotte, it's just me, just Derek, you know I won't be mad at you. What we're you looking for?" He asked again

"My leg huwt" she mumbled. "I didn't want to go bawk to doctow so I wented to find medicine."

Derek nodded his understanding and gently lifted her and sat her down on the closed toilet seat and looked through the cabinets.

A minute later his hands emerged holding a tube of cream for Charlotte burns from the hospital.

"Can you show me where it hurts?" He asked

Charlotte slowly stood up, not sure wether she could trust him or not, before slowly turning and lifting her nightgown a couple inches.

Derek knew immediately the cream wouldn't help much. Whatever rash she had was clearly infected bad, and travelled up well past her leg.

He nodded, not letting his face show anything was wrong, before gently running some of the cream on the small area she let him see.

"Charlotte, lets go talk to your mom, ok?" He said, picking her up.

She tensed, not used to being picked up by anyone but Emily, but quickly relaxed into his strong arms as they walked into Emily's room.

Derek shook her arm, waking her up.

Emily's eyes snapped open to Charlotte in Derek's arms.

"O-oh what happened? Sweetheart are you ok? Did she have another accident?" Emily asked, sitting up now. It was 6:30.

Charlotte shook her head and Derek told her, "I found Charlotte who was searching for cream to put on a burn on her upper leg." He said, looking at her.

His eyes told her the real story: that Charlotte would need to go back to the doctors that day.

"Oh sweetie" Emily said, taking her down onto her bed. Charlotte flinched at her leg making contact. "Why didn't you tell me it was hurting? I would've helped you"

Charlotte shrugged, avoiding eye contact. "I no want to make you mad. And it only huwt a _wittle."_

Emily could see she was embarrassed and holding back, so she gently picked her up and looked at the back of her leg.

On the right side, she could see a rash peaking out: one that was healing from an old burn, but Emily had to keep an eye on.

"I won't hurt you" she reminded as she gently lifted her night gown and saw the rash spread all the way up her leg and into her underwear.

She internally groaned. She'd have to take Charlotte back to the doctor today.

And that wasn't going to be easy.

 **As always, please keep reviewing! I love reading your thoughts and ideas! The more reviews, the faster I write! :)**


	21. Back to the Doctor

A few minutes later, Charlotte sat drawing while Emily and Derek talked over what they should do.

It was definitely not the fun day Emily had in mind for her and Charlotte, and she was frustrated. She knew how much her little girl hated the doctor, yet that was the only place they could go.

Derek had done a quick google search and hadn't found anything concrete on what it could be, and Emily called Dr. Coves. She explained what happened to the doctor, who agreed Charlotte should be seen that day, and made an appointment for a couple hours later.

"Guess it's time to face the music" Emily sighed, looking sadly over at Charlotte.

Derek gave her a sympathetic smile and rubbed his hand on her shoulder.

"She'll be ok" he reminded.

Together, they walked over to the table where Charlotte sat drawing.

"Hey sweetheart, what're you drawing?" Emily asked softly

Charlotte didn't answer out loud but stopped her picture and moved it so they could both see.

It looked like a sea turtle, but Emily couldn't tell for sure.

"That looks great kid" Derek said, eliciting a smile from Charlotte.

"Charlotte how's your leg feeling?" Emily asked

Charlotte shrugged and continued to focus on her picture.

Emily had no idea how to bring this up. She looked to Derek for help.

He cleared his throat. "Hey Charlotte, do you remember when we talked about the doctors a few nights ago?" He asked gently

Charlotte's face fell; she knew where this conversation was headed.

"We're going to go back sweetheart, just so she can help your leg feel better." Emily explained carefully.

Charlotte was quiet for a second before whispering, "pwease no make me?"

Emily's heart broke in two. Her sweet, precious girl sounded like she was being punished again and was asking not to be.

 _Why_ did she hate the doctor so much?

Emily was going to cry in front of Charlotte if she stayed. She walked to the hall bathroom leaving Derek with Charlotte.

"Puzzle Charlotte?" Using their code word before the child could get too panicked.

"Remember what we talked about before, right? The doctor wasn't trying to hurt you before and she won't now. She's going to help your leg feel better."

Charlotte's fist curled up tightly. She was angry. They didn't listen to her.

"But I no want to!" she wailed. "You not wisten to me" she insisted, frustrated.

"Charlotte, that's not true" Derek countered, holding the girls hand. "Were listening. I'm listening. We're only doing this to help you."

Charlotte didn't care. She was tired. She was angry. And she was scared. She marched upstairs and curled onto her bed, wanting space. Soon, unintentionally, she fell asleep.

Derek calmed Emily down and they let Charlotte sleep for an hour before they had to get her up and take her.

She was still groggy when she woke up so Emily carried her downstairs and into the car.

Derek went with them.

She was still both groggy and mad once they got into the exam room, and when Dr. Coves came in, she buried her head into Emily, not wanting to see her.

"Hi Charlotte" she greeted, gently touching her shoulder in greeting.

Charlotte flinched sharply and turned to glare at the doctor.

Emily closed her eyes for patience.

She had seen Charlotte happy, sad, upset, confused, and scared, but angry was a new one to her.

"Ok, why don't you get her changed and onto the table. They exam won't take too long" she requested, excusing herself.

Derek also left the exam room. He knew Charlotte was no where near ready to have to get changed with a male in the room still, and didn't want to further upset her.

"Sweetie, I know you don't want to, but I promise you she's not going to hurt you. _And_ we can get ice cream after," Emily offered, trying to get Charlotte excited again.

Charlotte's anger only turned to sadness. "I don't _wike_ hew. I not get ice cweam if we can go home?" She asked Emily.

Emily hugged her small body. "Soon, love. Soon."

Charlotte let Emily change her into the gown, but was not cooperative.

When Emily got her leggings off she tried hard not to gasp at Charlotte's leg. This burn was serious.

Very serious.

It looked worse than it did just a few hours before. At least Emily knew she did the right thing bring Charlotte. She needed a doctor.

A couple minutes later Dr. coves came back in.

Charlotte refused to leave Emily's lap.

Her paper gown crinkled each time she moved and the later wearing it.

She sat and stared straight ahead.

"Hey Charlotte, can you hop yo here for just a minute for me?" Dr. Coves said kindly.

Charlotte shook her head determinedly.

"Honey the sooner I can have a look the sooner you can go." She told Charlotte.

The young girl pondered this for a second, before ultimately shaking her head no at that as well.

Emily knew there wasn't anything Dr. coves could say to get Charlotte to cooperate.

Emily quickly stood up and flipped Charlotte's body in her arms so her back was facing up, and sat on the exam table.

Charlotte was not happy.

 **A/N- sorry this is short, I've just been too tired! ! Please review!**


	22. A Rough Visit

Charlotte glared down in both anger and fear. How could her Mommy let this happen?

"Charlotte, you're ok. I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just going to take a quick look at your leg, ok?" Dr. Coves said in a reassuring voice.

Charlotte didn't rely, which didn't surprise Dr. Coves. She gently moved the gown aside and looked at the spotty, blistered skin on her inner and back thigh and her brows furrowed in confusion.

Charlotte started to squirm and kick her legs to try and escape the exam. Emily kept holding her, gently but firm and tried her best to keep her calm.

The doctor knew she wouldn't have much time. She quickly went to the cabinet and returned. back to the table. Emily saw what looked like a microscope in her hand, but it didn't have the bottom portion for a slide to go in.

The doctor walked back over and put it right above her leg and looked through to see the magnified blisters.

Thankfully, Charlotte stopped kicking and was now just tensely frozen.

Dr. Coves put the microscope back and nodded to Emily that she could sit Charlotte up, who did so gratefully.

Charlotte sat frozen, tears silently streaming down her face.

"I'll be back" Dr. coves said, leaving the room with a face of worry.

Emily could tell something was wrong by her behavior, but she also couldn't leave Charlotte right then.

What could it possibly be?

Emily turned her attention back to Charlotte. She silently offered her stuffed seal to her. Charlotte took it and hugged it close to her body.

"Sweetheart, are you ok? You're doing great." Emily asked

Charlotte's tears continued to fall.

"Mommy home _pwease_." She asked desperately, and put her thumb back into her mouth.

"Almost honey, I promise" Emily said, lifting her into her arms.

She rocked her girl back and forth to calm her, and the girl relaxed ever so slightly in the arms of her protector.

Outside, Derek saw Dr. Coves storm out with anger and confusion.

"Woah, woah" he said, stopping her. "What's wrong? Is Charlotte ok?" He asked

She sighed. "You're police, aren't you?"

Derek nodded. "FBI."

"Well great, I guess you're saving me a phone call to authorities." She said sarcastically.

Derek raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"Charlotte has secondary syphilis. We're required to report any STI's in children." She paused. "I've been practicing medicine for 10 years. I've _never_ seen a child with the exception of some teenagers with an STI. And never a 6 year old. I-" she paused. "I'm sorry, this just makes me sick. That anyone could hurt a child like that."

Derek felt anger boiling up in him instantly and it took everything he had a calm himself enough to not punch the wall next to him.

"Is it treatable?" He asked

She nodded. "We caught it just early enough. She'll need a shot of penicillin today, antibiotics, and a lot of careful monitoring. It's too soon to tell any other possible long term effects."

"Does Emily know?" He asked

She shook her head. "I couldn't take her from Charlotte to tell her. _How_ am I supposed to tell her?" She asked

"I'll tell her" Derek said. "Just get whatever you need to help Charlotte."

She doctor nodded and walked back to one of the medical supply rooms.

Derek waited until he was calm again. He couldn't let any of his fear and angry transfer to Charlotte. And this was treatable. He took a piece of paper and a pen and wrote:

"She has secondary syphilis. They can treat it. She needs a penicillin shot. I'll call Hotch."

And calmly walked in and showed it to Emily...

Giving Charlotte her penicillin shot was not easy. A nurse had to hold her kicking legs down so Dr. Coves could pull her underwear down and administer it.

Her screams made Emily and Derek's hearts shatter. Emily didn't know how many more times she could go through seeing Charlotte like this.

Why couldn't her girl just catch a break? She had been through more than enough.

Now, she was back home with Emily and Derek.

She wouldn't let Emily leave her side, so they'd been reading every book in her room together for the last hour while Derek called the team downstairs.

"Yes Hotch, I know. But Hosben didn't have any STI's. It wasn't just him that abused her. He brought other people in"

"Ok, I'll have Garcia look for sex offenders in the area. Once we find them we'll go back."

"Isn't local PD going to do that?"

"No. I'm not trusting them with anything. We do this our way, and we do it correctly."

"Ok, tell me when and I'll be at the BAU"

"Morgan" his tone softened. "You can't be there. This is much to personal for you. For all of us, arguably. But especially you. Trust us, we'll get them."

Derek was mad but also not surprised.

"How is she doing?" He asked, genuinely concerned for both Charlotte and Emily.

"They're both fighters." He said. "Charlotte did not take the shot well, but it's done now. The rest should just be oral antibiotics. She wouldn't let go of Emily. They're up in her room reading now."

Hotch sighed. "I'll call Garcia." He said, and hung up.

* * *

"And they all lived happily ever after..."

"The end" Charlotte whispered. It was the first words she had spoken since coming home from the doctors.

Emily smiled at her. "The end" she repeated.

"Do you want to read another?" Emily asked.

She didn't care if she had to read stories for the next day straight. If it kept Charlotte calm, she'd do it.

Charlotte shrugged.

"Ares you hungry?" She asked

She shrugged again.

"Do you want to color?" Emily tried.

Charlotte slowly slid down further under the blanket on her bed with Emily.

Emily smiled. "Are you sleepy?" She asked

Charlotte shrugged with a sheepish smile at the corner of her lips, and put her thumb into her mouth.

"Stay hewe with me?" Charlotte asked, worried to be alone.

Emily gently stroked her head.

"I'm not going anywhere" she promised.

 **Please review! Pretty please :)**


	23. Derek & Charlotte have a Heart to Heart

After about a half hour, Charlotte was still sleeping and Derek came upstairs.

He smiled in the doorframe as he watched Charlotte curled up with her thumb in her mouth and stuffed animal in her arm with Emily gently tracing circles onto her back.

She was the perfect mother.

"Oh, hey" she said softly, noticing him in the doorframe.

He smiled walking over and sat next to her.

"How's she doing?" He asked

She shrugged, "Better now. It just broke my heart to see her like that. I was worried she'd be mad at me, but I think she was just scared. We're going to need more books though" she said with a small smile, glancing to the high stack of books they had already read.

He laughed softly.

"Did you call Hotch?" She asked

He nodded. "I filled him in. Garcia's looking into it now and as soon as they have suspects, the teams going to fly back and catch the bastards themselves," he assured.

The look of worry on Emily's face didn't subside.

"Hey" he said, lifting her chin to meet his eyes. "They're going to find them."

She nodded, knowing he was right.

"I need to call Dr. Freeman and set up an appointment and talk to Hotch and get dinner... I was going to try and take her out somewhere but I just don't think today's a good day for that and.."

"Why don't you go call them and grab takeout?" He said, knowing she needed some time to process the days events.

"She doesn't want to be alone." Emily replied, looking back at Charlotte's sleeping frame.

"She won't be." Derek assured her. "I'll stay right her with her."

Emily looked hesitant but nodded in agreement.

She quickly kissed his lips and walked out to her office downstairs.

Derek took over Emily's spot and watched Charlotte sleep peacefully.

Around 30 minutes after he took over Emily's duty, he heard her leave to pick up food for them, and Charlotte started to stir.

He watched her small body uncurl from its sleeping position and stretched her arms out.

Her eyes fluttered open and landed on Derek.

"Hey Char" he greeted with smile.

"Whewe's Mommy?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

"She just went to get some food, she'll be back soon." He replied

Charlotte nodded and sat up.

"Charlotte, there's something I want to talk to you about." Derek said

"The doctows?" She mumbled, sadness returning to her face.

He shook his head. "You don't have to talk about that if you don't want to. I want to tell you a story about me, is that ok?" He asked

She nodded slowly, intrigued.

"When I was a little older than you were, someone... hurt me. Sort of like how you were hurt."

"Mastew?" She said, confused.

He nodded. "But my 'masters' name was Carl Buford. And he did some really bad things to me. Things that I would see in my dreams, like you do sometimes. He made me feel scared, and lonely, and afraid."

He paused to see how Charlotte was handling his story, and saw her bright green eyes comprehending and hanging onto his words.

"I didn't like doing some things, like getting changed, or going to the doctors, because I didn't want people to see me hurt. Charlotte, you're not alone now, and you never will be. You Mommy and I will never let him or anyone hurt you again. But you don't have to feel like you can't talk about it or hide things from us because you're embarrassed. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. It wasn't your fault." He said.

He could see Charlotte mustering the courage to reply, and waited patiently.

"Dewek?" She asked

He nodded. "What is it?"

She took a breath. "Mastew wasn't the onwy one who huwt me," She disclosed.

He nodded. "Ok." He reassured. "Who else?"

"I-I don't know evewyone. It's hawd to remembew. But there was one man who came a lot. And he had a coat on, like the doctow hewe did" She said, and her eyes started to water up at the memory.

"A lab coat?" Derek asked. "A white one with a pocket here?" He said, gesturing to where a breast pocket would be.

Charlotte nodded in confirmation. "And he wore the same pants and shiwt. They were both blue. He huwt me lots, and I- I just thought the doctow hewe was going to." She said

Derek sighed. "Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry that he did. But we're going to find him, and he'll never be able to hurt you again. And the doctor here would never do anything like that. Mommy and I would never let her. She just wants to help you feel better. Does that make sense?" He asked, hoping the young child was comprehending at last part of it.

She nodded, sitting up more now, and wiping her eyes.

"And Charlotte, remember you can talk to me and Mommy about anything. Anything that's bothering or worrying you, and we can help you, ok?"

She nodded again. Her face looked relieved, and she felt like a tremendous weight came off of her shoulders.

"T'ank you Dewek" she said, and leaned down to give him a hug.

He was surprised but delighted by her sweet gesture. He gently returned her hug, and the two then walked downstairs and continued her newest puzzle until Emily got back.

 **Thanks for reading! Please review! Special shoutout to a reviewer who suggested Derek telling her about Buford. Keep the reviews and ideas coming :)**


	24. A fun day with Mommy

Once Emily returned, the trio ate their Chinese food.

Charlotte was excited to show off her improved chip stick skills, and Emily and Derek were very impressed.

Once they were done, they sat with her as she finished yet another puzzle.

Just being around Derek and Emily made Charlotte feel so much more comfortable, and they could tell that she was finally starting to feel safe with them.

"Ok sweetie" Emily said handing her a small medicine cup after she did her puzzle, "Can you take this medicine? It will help your leg feel better."

Charlotte nodded silently and took the cup without complaint.

She sat on the kitchen island stool while Emily washed the cup out, then watched her walk over to the freezer and pull out a tub of ice cream, making Charlotte grin with happiness.

Emily also smiled when she saw the joy on her face. "Vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry?" She asked.

Emily was continuing to try and give Charlotte choices. Even if they were just on small things, she knew it was a god way to start to build her broken confidence and give her a voice again.

Charlotte shrunk back a little bit, still not used to getting to pick things, but then slowly pointed to the strawberry container.

"Great choice!" Emily praised, scooping some into a bowl and handing it to her.

Charlotte smiled sheepishly and ate her ice cream.

Once she had finished, Derek went into Emily's office to call Hotch with the new information Charlotte had disclosed.

The team would go in the next morning to start narrowing down the other unsubs and hopefully catch them within the week.

The thought of anyone who hurt Charlotte still being out free made Derek boil with anger.

"Ok sweetheart, ready for your shower?" Emily asked, putting Charlotte's empty ice cream bowl in the sink.

Charlotte nodded and lead the way upstairs into her room.

Emily put the water on, always constantly checking that she never made it too hot.

Charlotte trodded in the bathroom a minute later with a nightgown and pair of underwear in hand, something that Emily usually picked out for her.

"You got your pjs all by yourself?" Emily asked, both surprised and happy.

Charlotte nodded with her thumb in her mouth.

Emily smiled and put the clothes on the sink. "I'm so proud of you sweetheart" Emily reminded.

"Do you want me to stay or go?" she asked, not wanting to overstep after the doctors that morning.

"Stay pwease." Charlotte replied without having to give it thought.

Emily smiled as she gently helped the small girl shed her clothes and step in the shower.

She still refused to face Emily, but allowed her to wash her hair, arms, and legs, which was significant progress.

Emily could fully see the rash now, going from up between her legs to her right inner thigh.

She was grateful that they could help her when they did, even if the doctors office itself wasn't easy.

Once she rinsed her hair, Emily wrapped up her small frame in a fluffy blue towel and lifted her out onto the tile.

Once she brushed her teeth and let Emily comb through her hair, Emily pulled out a tube of cream for the rash from the doctors.

"Is it ok if I put this on it?" She asked, not wanting to push Charlotte if she still wasn't ready.

The cream wouldn't cure or not cure anything, it was just a comfort measure to help speed up the recovery process.

Charlotte instinctively wanted to nod no, but remembered her talk with Derek earlier about being able to feel safe with him and Emily.

And she did feel safe.

She slowly turned around and lifted up the towel so Emily could rub some on.

Once she had, Charlotte got changed into her pajamas and Emily scooped her up and brought her back into her room.

She sat down on her bed with Charlotte still in her arms and went to put her down, but Charlotte kept clinging on.

"Sweep with you?" She asked in a small voice.

"Well I suppose" Emily said, smiling, and carried her into her bed. Once they laid down, Emily read her a story, and Charlotte's small body curled into a small ball right against Emily.

Thankfully, the night was quiet with no accidents and only one small nightmare that Emily was able to calm her down from easily.

Charlotte woke up content and well rested the next morning and helped Emily make eggs and breakfast.

Once they ate, Charlotte picked out leggings and a long sleeved shirt with hearts on it to wear.

"What awe we doing today?" Charlotte inquired, worried she'd have to return to the doctors.

"Well, I have a fun surprise for you. I think you'll like it" Emily replied, smiling.

A few days before, she'd found a great local pottery loft online where anyone could go and paint something.

Since Charlotte loved art, she knew she'd have a great time with it.

After packing her purse, Emily held Charlotte's hand out to the car.

Charlotte was in an especially happy mood, and hopped down the front porch steps, giggling as she saw her sneakers light up.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the small, cute business downtown, and Emily carried Charlotte inside.

Emily was relieved to see that there was only one other couple painting; she didn't want there to be too many people to overwhelm Charlotte.

Charlotte didn't quite understand what it was, but looked all around in awe at the painted designs covering various plates, cups, piggy banks, statues, and more.

"Do you want to pick one to paint?" Emily asked her.

Charlotte nodded and ran to the first display gleefully in response to start looking at her options.

She finally settled on a small, simple plate that she'd be able to design, and Emily picked out a small snow globe with a ballerina in the middle and spaces to paint on the outside.

She had an idea.

Charlotte picked out almost every color of the rainbow to put on her palette and got right to work painting a rainbow, seal, turtle, puzzle piece, sun, flower, and more on the surface.

It took a little time for her to get the hang of using a paint brush, but she eventually figured it out, saying it was just like using the chopsticks.

She was so engrossed in her masterpiece that she didn't even notice Emily, carefully reconstructing as close as she could the small snow globe from her mother that Hosben had shattered in front of Charlotte the day Emily rescued her.

Emily added golden swirls bordering the glass and wrote "Charlotte" in delicate cursive.

Once Charlotte was finished, she went to wash her hands while Emily took them to the counter so they could be put in the kiln and paid for it.

Once Emily also washed her hands, Charlotte led the way skipping out to the car.

"Did you have fun?" Emily asked

Charlotte nodded instantly. "I love painting Mommy! Did you see my pwate? Did you like it?" She exclaimed.

"You bet I did! It was amazing" she said with a wink.

It was around lunch time, but Emily had a plan for this too.

She drove just a few miles down the road to a park and unloaded a basket she had packed that morning with fruit and sandwiches for a picnic with Charlotte.

"Hungry?" Emily asked.

Charlotte nodded. "A wittle" she replied.

"Perfect!" Emily answered, holding her hand up to the top of a flat grassy area, where she spread out a blanket and unpacked their lunches.

Charlotte loved being outside, surrounded by grass and sun and flowers.

Hosben almost never let her out, and Emily had to be carefully to not do it all the time as to not overwhelm Charlotte with too many new things, but she was having a good day and Emily could tell how much she loved the outdoors.

Once they had finished, Emily watched as Charlotte stared curiously at a swim set and playground at the bottom of the hill.

"Come on" she said with a smile, holding out her hand.

She led Charlotte down and gently lifted her onto the empty swing set.

"Ok, hold on here and here" she said, grabbing the sides of the swing "and if you don't like it, tell me and I'll stop, ok?"

Charlotte seemed a little confused still, but nodded determinedly and grabbed the swings sides.

"Ok, here were... go!" Emily said, giving her a first, gentle push up.

Charlotte giggled, delighted by the feeling of swinging.

She felt like the birds she saw up in the sky

"Higher Mommy, higher!" She said, still giggling as she watched her self travel further and further off the ground.

Emily beamed and kept pushing her.

Charlotte loved the swings. Emily pushed her for 20 minutes, until she thought her arms were going to fall off, then finally slowed Charlotte down, who jumped off grinning ear to ear.

"That was so fun mommy!" She said.

Emily grinned back and lifted her girl as they walked back towards their empty picnic basket.

Once they loaded it back into the car, Emily's phone buzzed. "Still good for dinner tonight?" Derek asked.

His mom was in town and wanted to meet Charlotte, and considering the good day Charlotte had, Emily didn't see any reason she shouldn't.

She was looking forward to Charlotte and her being able to be with Derek's mom.

Once they got back, Emily put on a movie about dancers. Charlotte seemed very engaged, but after a few minutes, sleepiness took over and her body curled up, asleep and happy on Emily's lap.

 **A/N- I'm sorry it took me so long to update! Hope you liked this chapter, please review and let me know your thoughts! :)**


	25. Dinner with Grandma Fran

Since she'd have to wake Charlotte soon anyways to get her ready for dinner, Emily just gently moved over Charlotte from her lap to the touch and tucked a blanket on her to nap.

Once Derek texted her the address for the dinner reservation, Emily was both excited and nervous- it was a fancy 5 dart restaurant near D.C. with water views and an amazing menu.

Derek was taking this very seriously... and that made her heart full of happiness.

Getting Derek and Charlotte in the same period of time had made for the most amazing past couple weeks, and she couldn't be happier.

She used Charlotte's napping time as time to relax and get herself ready for dinner that night. After stepping out of the shower, Emily blow dried and flat ironed her silky black hair straight, and put on a classy, form fitting sleeveless black dress, complete with small dangling crystals in her ears and a subtle matching necklace.

She looked incredible.

Just as she was clasping the necklace together, she heart a step behind her and turned to see a drowsy looking Charlotte standing in the bathrooms doorframe.

A small smile pulled at the side of her lips. "You look pwetty Mommy" she said shyly, stretching.

Emily smiled. "Why thank you sweetheart. Are you ready to get dressed?"

Charlotte nodded and the two went down to her room.

Emily went into Charlotte's closet where a small black, velvet dress was hanging. A small belt of red roses went across the middle and it tied in a bow in the back.

Emily remembered buying it at target, seeing it and thinking it was too precious to resist buying.

Now she was certainly glad she had.

She held it up for Charlotte's approval with a smile.

Charlotte smiled too, but it was replaced by a frown a moment after. "Twights?" She requested.

Emily nodded.

She knew Charlotte was still working on her body confidence with all her healing injuries.

Emily gently helped Charlotte change out of her clothes from that morning and into grey tights, the dress, and plain black flats.

She glanced at her phone and saw they should be leaving soon.

She buckled Charlotte in and handed her a brain teaser and coloring book for the ride to the restaurant.

She was glad to see her still in good spirits, and happy she had such a fun day.

"So Charlotte," she said, about 25 minutes into their drive, "I was thinking we could go back and talk to Dr. Freeman tomorrow? Would that be ok?" Emily asked.

Charlotte thought for a moment and shrugged. "Will I hawe to tawk about the doctows?" She asked in a smaller voice.

Emily shook her head no. "Remember, you never have to talk about something you not want to... but also remember that it can really help to talk about things like the doctors. It will help you feel less sad about it." She said carefully

Charlotte shrugged again and went back to her coloring page.

After another 20 minutes, they arrived at the restaurant. Emily had her car valeted, then lifted Charlotte and carried her up to the entrance.

On their way up Emily smiled as she watched Charlotte's bright green eyes looking around at the beautiful water backdrop with wonder and amazement.

"Pretty cool, right?" Emily said as they went inside.

Charlotte nodded quickly and put her thumb into her mouth.

"Hi" she said to the hostess "Here under Morgan" she said

The hostess nodded and brought them up to a table set for four that Derek and Fran were already seated at.

The walls are glass windows and from the table, you could see right out onto the water.

Derek and Fran stood up as they approached.

Emily set Charlotte down and Derek kissed her lips quickly.

"You look.. incredible" he said truthfully

She let out a small laugh. "And you don't look too bad yourself"

"And Charlotte, I love this dress" he said, eliciting a small smile from her.

"Tank you" she politely replied, then returned her thumb to her mouth.

"Mrs. Morgan, it's to good to see you again" Emily said as she hugged Derek's mom.

"You too Emily!" She said, grinning wide.

"And _you_ must be Charlotte" she said, smiling kindly at her. "It is so very nice to meet you. You can call me Fran, or Grandma, if you'd like" she told her as they all sat down.

"Gwandma?" Charlotte tried.

Emily and Derek smiled at her usual adorable pronunciation and Fran looked like she was going to jump out of her chair with excitement at being called that.

"It's about time!" She whispered loudly to Derek, who laughed.

"Mama, mama, come on now" he said, still smiling, "find what you want to get"

Once the waiter returned, they ordered their food: Shrimp for Emily, Pasta with steak for Derek, and Crab bisque for Fran. The restaurant didn't have a kids menu, but the waiter assured the, he could get the fanciest grilled cheese and soup arranged for Charlotte.

"So Emily, where is the adoption process?" Fran asked, as they munched on appetizers.

"Its long, but going well so far. We've done a home visit, and the next step is to go before a judge later this week." She explained.

Charlotte didn't know about it yet, and looked curious when Emily told Fran, but didn't say anything.

"And how has it been, not having to be out in danger all over the place? Maybe you see how nice it is and just want to be home? And convince Derek to do the same?" She asked

They all chuckled. "Come on now Mama, you know our work is important. If we didn't do our jobs, we never would have met Charlotte" he said, smiling at her.

"And Charlotte, honey, how is everything? What's your favorite thing to do?" She asked, smiling affectionately at the girl.

Charlotte looked up towards Emily, who nodded to reassure her.

"Well, I wike colowing and puzzles, and the a-aquawium" she answered smiling, finally pronouncing 'aquarium' correctly.

"Well those all sound like lots of fun to me" Fran replied with a wink.

Charlotte smiled. She liked her Grandma Fran.

The rest of dinner went just as smoothly. Fran was happy to see Derek happy with Emily and with Charlotte, and she adored both of them.

After their food and dessert, when they all felt too full to eat another bite and Charlotte looked like the was going to fall asleep any minute, Derek took the check and paid for it.

After he did, they all stood up to go. Emily lifted Charlotte in her arms and she quickly wrapped herself around her and laid her head on Emily's shoulder.

"Goodnight Charlotte" Fran said, lightly tickling the side of her arm.

She smiled, "Goodnight Gwandma, goodnight Dewek" she said as her eyes fluttered shut.

 **Thank you for reading. Remember, if you review, I will write more! It would be greatly appreciated if you left feedback :)**


	26. Getting ready

Charlotte slept peacefully through the drive back home, but started so wake up as Emily lifted her from her car seat in the driveway.

"Mommy?" She yawned in question.

"Yup, it's me" she reassured, gently rubbing her back and carrying her inside.

"I'll just help you get changed into pjs and then you can go back to sleep" she said, bringing Charlotte into her room and setting her down on the bed.

Charlotte rubbed her eyes as she sat on her bed, still groggy from just waking up.

Emily got a soft long sleeved nightgown from her drawer and carefully helped Charlotte change out of her fancy dress.

"Sweetheart is it still hurting you?" She asked, concerned, after seeing Charlotte wince on her leg while changing out of the dress.

She shrugged, taking the nightgown and quickly pulling it on herself, anxious to be covered again.

"It's bettew some" she said truthfully.

"Ok, just remember you won't be in trouble for telling me if it is" she replied, helping her lay down and pulling the covers up around her.

She nodded, thumb in mouth, as her small frame was engulfed by her comforter.

"Goodnight sweetheart, I love you so much" Emily whispered, pressing a kiss onto her forehead.

And just like that, she was asleep again.

Emily went back to her room, shed her dress, washed the makeup from her face and went down to her office to work on some adoption paperwork until her eyes were burning with fatigue.

She sighed and looked over at the clock- it was a little past midnight.

She shut the folder and turned off her computer.

After getting a glass of water, she began ascending the stairs.

Just three stairs up, a loud thump sound came from the top of the stairs- Charlotte's room.

Her maternal instincts kicked in and she sprinted up the rest into Charlotte room and flipped the light on to see Charlotte whimpering on the ground clutching her knee. She must have tried to climb out of bed but fell down onto the ground.

The girl shielded the light with her hand and instinctually began scooting back into the corner.

"No, Charlotte you're ok, it's just me" Emily said gently trying to stop her panic attack before it could worsen.

She clutched her knee tighter, shaking her head no, and buried her head down.

Emily got level with her on the ground.

"Charlotte, it's me, it's just me. I'm not going to hurt you" Emily said patiently.

Charlotte lifted her head and her eyes finally focused on Emily, breaking her out of the beginnings of her attack.

Emily lifted her up and sat down with her on her bed.

"M-mommy" she cried and buried her head into Emily's sleep shirt.

"It's ok sweetheart, I'm here" Emily said, giving her a minute to comprehend it.

"Love why were you getting out of bed?" she asked a minute later.

Charlotte sniffled and pointed down on the floor. "Mr. Tuwtle fewl. I was trwing to get him but it was too dawk"

Emily followed her gaze with Charlotte's arm and saw Mr. Turtle lying on the floor.

Still holding Charlotte, Emily carefully got up and retrieved the stuffed animal from the ground and offered it to Charlotte, who took it gratefully.

"I'm sowwy" she said, meeting her mom's eyes.

Emily kissed the top of her head and laid her back down into bed.

"You don't have to be sorry, sweetheart. I'm not mad." She said, pulling the covers back up and turning on her night lights.

"Mommy?" She asked in a small voice. "Can you staw hewe until I fall asweep?"

Emily smiled. "You bet." She promised, sitting on the edge of her bed and gently stroking her head until she drifted back off to sleep.

Now very exhausted, Emily went to her room and fell asleep herself.

Since Charlotte's therapy appointment wasn't until 12, they both got to sleep in some.

Charlotte woke up a little before and began working on another picture at her desk and watching Finny swim until Emily woke up 20 minutes later and went to Charlotte's room.

"You're up!" she said, smiling in her doorway.

Charlotte nodded and held up her picture smiling. "It's fow you" she said, proud of her work.

"I love it" Emily praised. "Thank you!" She said as she helped Charlotte slide off her chair and go downstairs.

After eating breakfast and taking her medicine, Emily worked on gathering together Charlotte's different drawings throughout the week to show Dr. Freeman, and put the dancer movie from the previous day back on.

Once Emily had packed everything, she went back into the living room to see Charlotte absolutely mesmerized by the dancers on the screen.

As Emily paused the movie to get Charlotte dressed, she had an idea.

They went up to her room and Emily let Charlotte pick out her outfit.

As she was helping her strap her shoes on she asked, "Char, what do you think about taking dance class? Like the dancers on the tv were?"

Charlotte's face lit up. "Dance class? I can do that! Yes pwease!" She exclaimed.

Emily smiled as Charlotte jumped up and went to feed Finny.

"Sounds like a plan then." She promised, and carried Charlotte out to the car.

Emily could see nerves returning to Charlotte ever so slightly in her body language in the car.

She glanced her through her rear view mirror and said" Remember sweetheart, you're just talking with her. She might want to talk about the doctors or bad dreams, but you don't _have_ to do or talk about anything you don't want to."

"Pwomise?" Charlotte asked from her car seat.

Emily nodded. "Promise. But, also remember if you are comfortable, talking about those things will help, ok?"

Charlotte nodded at the compromise.

Emily parked and carried Charlotte into the familiar building and up the elevator.

Since they had some time, she stopped by Garcia's cave.

"Woah" Charlotte whispered as they entered.

She had yet to see Garcia's workspace and it was, well, unique.

She turned in her chair when she heard the door open. Reid was sitting on her desk, reading part of a file.

"Ooo! Visitors! I love visitors! Especially when it's you" Garcia said to Charlotte, making her giggle.

Reid looked up. "Hey Charlotte! How are you?"

She waved to her friend. "Hi Spencew" she said smiling, leaning against Emily shyly.

Emily smiled too. "We've got an appointment with Dr. Freeman" she explained.

"Not before this you don't!" Penelope said, pulling out a Hershey kiss from a glass container on the side of her desk and handing it to Charlotte.

Charlotte's eyes lit up at the surprise. "T'ank you" she said.

Emily glanced down at her watch, grateful to her team mates for easing Charlotte's mood.

"We should head up, but we will see you guys later!" She said

"Toodles!" Garcia said.

"See you!" Reid called.

After another elevator ride, the two arrived back at Dr. Freeman's office and went inside.

"Hello Agent Prentiss, hi Charlotte" the specialist greeted kindly.

"Hi Dr. Freeman" Emily greeted.

Charlotte's nerves started to return and she clung a little more tightly to Emily, not replying.

Emily noticed but didn't say anything, and sat down with her on the couch as she closed the door.

"Ok, let's get started." Dr. Freeman said, taking her seat across from them.

 **Hello! I hope you enjoyed! If you had another second it would mean so much if you could just leave a quick review with your thoughts or ideas :) thank you very much!**


	27. Opening up at Therapy

**To thank you for all the support lately I wrote a longer chapter, but warning, it's a little sad.**

 **I'll post another chapter tomorrow if I get enough reviews!**

"So Charlotte, how are you today?" The doctor asked.

Charlotte shrugged.

"Good" she answered in a much less confident voice then when she was in Garcia's office.

Emily squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"I heard you've been doing a lot of fun things since I saw you last, can you tell me about some of your favorites?" She asked kindly.

A little bit of Charlotte's smile started to creep back onto her face. "We painted pottewy and went to a pawk and I played with Jack and went to dinnew with Dewek and Mommy" she answered, starting to gain some confidence back.

"Wow! That sounds like a lot of fun." Dr. Freeman replied, and Charlotte nodded.

"Do you think it'd be ok for your mom to go talk to her team for a little while? She'll be right down the hall just like before." Dr. Freeman asked.

Charlotte's bright green eyes darted up to Emily with uncertainty.

Emily pulled out Mr. Turtle from her purse and placed it in Charlotte's hands then gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head.

"You'll be just fine sweetheart, I'll be right near by if you need me, ok?" Emily reasoned.

Charlotte gripped her stuffed turtle and nodded slowly.

Emily handed Dr. Freeman the folder with Charlotte's pictures. She had already talked to her that morning about the bed wetting and latest doctor's visit.

Then she excused herself quickly.

She felt horrible for leaving Charlotte when she felt unsure, but she knew it was the best way to get her to open up and that she'd be ok with Dr. Freeman.

She let out a deep breath once she was outside the office in the hallway, and rubbed her hand over her face, one of her tells of being stressed.

"Prentiss, are you alright?" Hotch's voice asked behind her.

She straightened up quickly.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Charlotte has another appointment with Dr. Freeman," she explained.

He nodded. "Good. It will help her. But in the mean time, I'm afraid we have some not so good news..." he started, leading her into the BAU bullpen with the rest of her team.

"Ok, lets brief Prentiss." He instructed the team once they got inside.

"We've narrowed the suspect pool based off of Charlotte's description, but we can't find anything concrete to nail the other unsub." Rossi said

"Reid and I went to the jail last night and tried to get information out of Hosben, but he's not talking. He still won't admit to ever hurting Charlotte." Hotch added

Emily's face fell.

"Em you know there's only one way to do this at this point.." JJ said gently.

Emily looked around at her teams faces confused before she understood what they were saying.

"No. Absolutely not." Emily said in disbelief.

"Em-" Reid started

"No, there's no way she can go through a cognitive right now. Today's only her second session with Dr. Freeman. She hasn't even opened up yet." Emily said, shocked her team thought that was an acceptable plan.

"Look we know it's not ideal but she's in a much stronger state. And she'll be opening up any day now. Freeman can do the interview and you can stay with her the whole time. We've got to catch them though Emily. That's the only way for her to feel truly safe, you know that" Reid said.

Emily's fist clenched.

She knew they were right, but she couldn't even think about putting Charlotte through a cognitive. Not when she was finally starting to feel happy and safe.

She shut her eyes. " _Maybe._ But let's just go through he evidence again. Maybe we missed something." She said

Hotch nodded. "That's a good idea. Garcia.."

* * *

"Charlotte you're very talented at drawing" Dr. Freeman commented, flipping quickly through the drawings Emily had given her.

"Can you tell me about some of your pictures here?" She asked, setting one down on the table between them.

Charlotte sat up a bit on the couch and peered down at the table.

"Do you remember when you drew this one?" She asked.

The paper had a young girl, presumably Charlotte in the middle with a sad face. Around her were various scribbles.

She had drawn it after Derek and Emily told her she'd have to go back to the doctors the morning they found the rash on her leg.

Charlotte put her thumb in her mouth and nodded.

"What was going on when you drew this?" Dr. Freeman asked her.

Charlotte shrugged.

Dr. Freeman could see she wasn't going to open up that easily.

"How were you feeling when you drew this?" She tried instead.

Charlotte thought for a moment, then removed her thumb from her mouth.

"Sad. Mommy and Dewek was not listening to me" she said, carefully.

"And that made you feel sad?"

Charlotte nodded. "I told them I didn't want to, but they made me anyway."

"What didn't you want to do?"

Charlotte shrugged.

"Charlotte sweetie, you can tell me anything. You'll never get in trouble for saying things in here."

Charlotte sighed in annoyance. "I didn't want to go back to the doctows." She said

"Ok. Why didn't you want to go back?"

Charlotte started tracing patterns in to Mr. Turtle's soft shell. "Doctows don't listen to me."

"How did they not listen to you?"

"She.. she was going to do things that mastew used to do, and that _huwt_ me. I didn't wike it."

"Things like what?" Dr. Freeman coaxed.

"She made me put on a dress and wooked at me." Charlotte said now crossing her arms tightly at the memory.

"Where did she look?"

"Between my wegs" Charlotte muttered.

"Is that what master used to do?" Dr. Freeman asked, trying to maintain some eye contact.

"Mastew... mastew huwt me." She repeated.

"What did he do that hurt you?"

Dr. Freeman could see tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"He hit me. And kicked me. And pulled my haiw" she sniffled, touching her bright blond hair.

"And he threw things at me. And no let me eat." She said, a tear now escaping her eye.

Dr. Freeman took a breath to compose herself.

No matter how long she did this job, seeing child abuse victims disclose never got easier.

"Did he do anything that the doctor did?" She asked gently.

A few more tears fell from Charlotte's eyes and she hugged her knees tightly to her chest.

"M-mastew made me take my clothes off. And he take his clothes off" she said, her tears now turning to sobs.

"Ok, Charlotte, it's ok" she said, trying to comfort her.

Charlotte buried her head down in sobs. "I want Mommy!" She wailed desperately, looking around the room for her.

Dr. Freeman quickly texted Emily to come back.

"Charlotte I want you to take a deep breath.." Dr. Freeman started.

"No! No listen!" Charlotte cried, and jumped down from the couch and cowered down in the corner.

"Sweethe-" she started, but Emily interrupted by bursting through the door.

She could hear Charlotte cries from the corner, and her heart sunk.

"Oh Char-"

As soon as she spoke, the small girl scampered across and leaped into her mothers arms, burying her tear stained face deep in her chest.

"M-mommy" her breath hitched between sobs.

"Shhh, just breath, you don't have to say anything else right now. Just breathe love" Emily comforted.

Charlotte continued to cry into her mothers shirt and wrapped her arms around Emily's neck for support.

"I'm sowwy Mommy I _sowwy!"_ She cried.

"No, no love, you don't need to be sorry. I'm here, it's ok." Emily comforted, stroking her hair.

Derek entered the doorframe quietly, having followed Emily after she sprinted from the conference room.

Dr. Freeman nodded at him to come in, then went out to her outer office to give the three of them some space.

She knew Charlotte needed space to be with people she completely trusted.

It was the first time since she was rescued that she fully started to open up, and for any abuse victim, the first time was always the hardest.

Derek went and sat on a chair next to the couch.

Charlotte's body froze at the sound.

"It's just me baby girl, just Derek" he promised, now sitting next to Emily on the couch.

Charlotte lifted her head to see if the voice was telling the truth, and upon seeing Derek her cries softened slightly.

She sat up a little and sniffled while the last of her tears continued to fall.

"You ok now sweet pea?" Derek asked, reaching his hand across to hold hers.

Charlotte took Mr. Turtle from the table and hugged him tightly.

She wasn't ok.

Derek carefully lifted her up so Emily could gather the drawings.

She clung to his muscular frame as Emily brought the folder out to Dr. Freeman.

 ******A/N- Please review if you liked it! It just takes a second but they'll motivate me to keep writing! :) If I get a lot of reviews, I'll post another chapter tomorrow!*****


	28. Tough Day

Charlotte fell asleep clinging to Derek at the office, and they brought her back home.

Emily carefully lifted her tiny frame from the car and brought her upstairs to Emily's room and laid her down in the bed, then got in bed next to her.

She couldn't let her be alone right now.

Emily stayed and ran her fingers through Charlotte's bright blond hair while she slept.

Her brain kept replaying Charlotte's face in Dr. Freeman's office.

The pain and fear in her eyes.

The desperation in her sprinting to Emily for safety.

The loud and panicked sobs.

A tear fell silently from Emily's eye as she continued to run her hand through Charlotte's hair, comforting her.

Derek knocked gently at the door, then walked over to the bed.

"Dr Freeman called" he said quietly to not wake Charlotte. "She wanted to see how she's doing."

Emily nodded.

They both knew how she was doing.

Derek sighed and climbed into the bed next to Emily and took his hand in hers.

"Hey. Look at me" he requested. "What's going on in that pretty head of yours?"

Emily rubbed her face.

"I knew she was going to open up at some point, and I knew it would be hard. And I wanted her to, she needed to, but... I guess part of me just wished she could just forget about all of it." Emily said, truthfully. "I know that's stupid, she needs to work though her memories and open up about them but..." she trailed off

"No, it's not stupid. You want to take the pain from her. To protect her. That's what any mother wants." He replied

"Yes, but Derek, how can I protect her from memories I don't even know exist?" She asked, frustrated.

Before Derek could reply, Charlotte started thrashing in the bed next to them, legs kicking and arms grabbing at the air.

"No pwease stop!" Her voice cried out.

Emily and Derek didn't waste any time.

"Charlotte, sweetheart, wake up now. It's just a bad dream" Emily said firmly trying to sit her up.

Charlotte just cried out louder.

She hadn't had a nightmare this bad since the first few days after being rescued.

"Come on sweetheart, it's just me, it's Mommy, no ones hurting you." She said, gently shaking her shoulder.

"Charlotte, come on, wake up honey" she tried again, now fully sitting her up and shaking her knee.

Charlotte's eyes suddenly snapped open in terror, tears threatening to fall, gasping for air.

Derek had come back and gave her a cup with water then her stuffed animal for comfort.

She looked around the room, confusion evident across her face.

"You fell asleep after Dr. Freeman's office." Emily reminded gently. "Then up here you had a bad dream just now. Do you remember it?"

Charlotte shook her hair no and took another shaky sip of water.

She handed the cup back to Derek then crawled over onto Emily's lap, desperate for more comfort from her mom.

"Shh" Emily calmed her wrapping her arms around her body. "You're ok, I promise" and she gently pressed a kiss onto Charlotte's forehead.

Charlotte snuggled in closer.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon and evening was thankfully, uneventful.

Emily made dinner while Derek played with Charlotte.

She didn't have any flashbacks but was being much more clingy than usual, and refused to be anywhere by herself, even if it was just the living room.

At dinner, she wasn't eating much. Emily and Derek tried to coax more food into her, but she claimed she wasn't hungry.

After dinner, she accepted a small bowl of ice cream, and the three went into the living room to finish her movie about dancers.

Charlotte watched part of it, but it was clear she wasn't fully focused on it.

It was like her attention was in 50 different places.

She was just... _off._

Emily and Derek both noticed, but there wasn't much they could do about it.

After the movie, they brought her upstairs and a Emily put cream on the syphilis rash and got her changed while Derek picked out a book.

Emily went to lay her down in bed for a story but she wrapped her legs around her and shook her head 'no' silently in refusal to sleep alone.

Emily and Derek weren't too surprised about that, and didn't mind either.

Emily carried her into their bedroom and laid her in the middle, then Emily and Derek got in bed on either side of her.

Once she was sure they were both there and not leaving her, she finally drifted off to sleep.

 **A/N- I'm sorry this was shorter! I'm having major writers block so any thoughts, ideas, or comments you have are greatly appreciated!**


	29. Charlotte's Back

The night was a rough one, with 3 nightmares and one bed wetting incident.

Charlotte was growing so distraught, that after the final nightmare around 5am, she wouldn't even go back in bed.

Emily had to carry and keep her in her arms, rocking her back and forth around the room until she drifted back off into sleep.

Once Emily was sure, she gently laid her back down on her bed.

Glancing at the clock, she saw it read 5:25am, and Derek was buttoning the buttons on his shirt, getting ready to head into the BAU.

"Derek" she called out in a horse voice laced with exhaustion.

He looked up from his shirt to her, eyebrows raised.

"Find whatever sons of bitches hurt her, and never let them get out of jail for it." She demanded tiredly, now getting back under the covers herself, trying to get more than 3 hours of sleep.

Even in his tired state, Derek chuckled. "We won't stop until we do."

He walked over and gave Emily a quick kiss, then left.

Emily turned her attention back to Charlotte.

Her small thumb was back in her mouth, and her blond hair was cascaded around her shoulders onto her purple nightgown.

Her body was tightly scrunched up into a ball, and hidden almost completely under the comforter.

Instinctively, Emily reached her arm out and wrapped it around her girl.

In her sleep, Charlotte froze temporarily, but then relaxed in the hold and snuggled close to Emily.

The agent smiled, then drifted back off to sleep with Charlotte.

The next time she woke up, it was close to 9:30, and she was feeling much more well rested.

She looked down to see Charlotte still sleeping peacefully in her hold, and was grateful that she had gotten at least a few hours of nightmare-less sleep.

When Emily rolled over to get her phone Charlotte's eyes slowly opened and she rubbed them, but her calm demeanor from resting was replaced with the confusion and fear she had the previous day.

Emily's heart sunk.

"Good morning sweetheart, how're you feeling?" Emily asked gently

Charlotte nodded carefully and moved slowly backwards as if trying to distance herself from being punished.

Emily pretended not to notice; she didn't want to frighten Charlotte any further.

"Ok, want to go get ready?" She asked with a reassuring smile.

Charlotte nodded again and cautiously slid off the bed and walked down to her room obediently.

"How about you pick out whatever you want to wear and get changed while I start breakfast?" Emily asked, trying to give Charlotte independence and privacy. "Just call if you need help" she said.

"Ok" Charlotte whispered, barely audible.

Her eyes weren't even looking at Emily; just like the night before, her focus already seemed to be divided over 50 different places.

Emily nodded with a smile then went downstairs and made some scrambled eggs and toast for them both.

She was about to go check on Charlotte when her phone rang.

She looked down and saw "Melissa" on the screen- Charlotte's case worker.

 _Shoot_ Emily thought, and picked up.

"Hi Melissa, how're you?" She greeted

"Good thanks, and you?" Melissa replied.

"Alright."

"I just wanted to check in and see how Charlotte was doing? I meant to pop in yesterday but got pulled away. With the court date coming up soon I just wanted to make sure she was doing alright." Melissa said

Emily sighed as she sat down. "She's doing ok, but to be honest with you she had a rough day in therapy yesterday, and hasn't fully recovered from it yet. She's regressed some into the timid behaviors she had when we found her, but the therapist assured me that it's normal for that to happen after the first time opening up." Emily explained.

"Well I'm glad to hear she opened up, that's a big and very important step, but I'm sorry to hear she's not processing it well. Tell me more about her behavior?"

"Well she had a few nightmares last night, all pretty bad. She's also just avoiding eye contact, flinching at touches, distracted... but I'm hoping she'll adjust back after today." Emily answered

"What is your plan for today?" Melissa inquired

"I'm going to take her back to the aquarium. That was the first place I took her that she opened up out of her shell, so I hope it will happen again now." Emily answered.

"That sounds like a great idea, Agent Prentiss. Please keep me updated on how she's doing, and we'll be in touch soon about court."

"Of course, thank you for calling" Emily said, and hung up.

She sighed, looked at the clock, and frowned.

Charlotte had been "getting dressed" for the past 15 minutes or so and hadn't come downstairs.

Emily ascended the steps to her room and saw Charlotte still in her pajamas, sitting at her desk and staring at Finny swim.

Emily knocked quietly, and Charlotte's body jumped.

"Hey love, I left for you to get dressed 15 minutes ago, what happened?" She asked

Charlotte's eyes widened.

"I'm vewy sowwy! I no mean to, I'm sowry, pwease no huwt. I'll get dwessed now" she said, scrambling to get up and retrieve clothes from her dresser.

"Hey hey, it's ok" Emily said, gently stopping her frantic hands. "You know I'd never hurt you. I just wanted to help. Let's pick out an outfit, ok?" She said, effectively calming Charlotte down some.

Charlotte, heart still racing, nodded and sat on the end of her bed while Emily pulled out green underwear with ladybugs, grey leggings, and a pink shirt with a big heart stitched onto it, then held them up for Charlotte's approval.

Charlotte nodded, relieved, then allowed Emily to help her get changed.

Afterwards, they went downstairs to the table.

Charlotte picked at her food and took her medicine without complaint.

"Alright Char, ready to go?" Emily asked, after she finished washing their dishes.

"Go whewe?" She asked, confused, staring at the wall.

"A surprise" Emily answered with a wink. "But I think you'll like it." She said, holding her arms out in front of Charlotte's chair.

After a moment of thinking, Charlotte got into them timidly and Emily carried her out into the car.

Charlotte was clearly not focused on anything in the car, and her eyes were darting everywhere.

But when they finally arrived at the Aquarium, Charlotte perked up some and looked out the window.

Emily smiled, seeing her girl starting ever so slightly to return again, and held her hand inside.

Once their tickets were paid for, Charlotte lead the way to a big fish display and stopped, pointing enthusiastically at some of the fish in the tank.

"Mommy mommy wook!" She exclaimed. "It's like Finny!" She informed

Emily grinned too, looking at the tank.

It wasn't _quite_ like her fish, but it was close enough.

"Pretty cool Char, Finny's got a whole display dedicated to him!" She replied, eliciting a small smile from Charlotte.

Charlotte looked at the other tanks for a few more minutes, then back to Emily.

"Can we see the Tuwtles Mommy?" She asked, the smile at the corner of her lips growing a bit.

"You bet" Emily promised. "We can see whatever you want."

Charlotte smiled and lead Emily to the next exhibit of starfish, then around the whole floor, ending with the sea turtles.

By the end of their visit, Emily could finally see Charlotte's joy starting to return, and she couldn't help a quick stop by the gift shop on the way out.

Carrying Charlotte, they walked inside, and Emily found a under the sea coloring book right away, and seeing Charlotte's face light up in approval, walked over to the registrar.

As the cashier was ringing up her purchase, Emily looked back at Charlotte and followed her gaze to a stuffed starfish display right next to the registrar.

Emily smiled and picked up one of the starfish, then added it to her purchase.

Charlotte, wrapped her arms a little tightly around Emily. "Mommy t'ank you" she whispered in her ear, her voice full of gratitude.

"You are very welcome love" Emily said.

She loved being able to spoil Charlotte some.

After paying for the coloring book, starfish and a new book, the duo returned to the car.

This time, Charlotte was focused again on her surroundings, and the fear in her eyes from earlier had subsided notably.

On the way home, Emily made a quick pit stop to the pottery place from a few days before.

Their creations were done in the kiln, so the were good to be taken home now.

Once they returned home, Emily made lunch and served Charlotte's chicken nuggets and grapes on her plate that she had painted at the pottery place, much to Charlotte's delight.

To Emily's relief, she ate her whole lunch. After seeing her just pick at last nights dinner and this mornings breakfast, she was getting worried.

Charlotte started coloring a page in her new coloring book while Emily washes the dishes, but when Emily returned to the table, she could tell how tired Charlotte was, especially with her lack of sleep from the nightmares the previous night.

"Want to take a little nap sweetheart?" Emily asked, kneeling in front of her.

Charlotte rubbed her eyes and nodded, allowing Emily to pick her up and carry her upstairs.

On her way, Emily grabbed her snow globe she had made while making pottery.

Once upstairs, Emily gently laid Charlotte in bed, who put her thumb in her mouth and snuggled against the pillow.

Emily sat on the edge of her bed.

"Hey Char, I made you something" Emily said, unwrapping the snow globe she'd created to replace the one her master had destroyed.

Once she held it out, Charlotte's eyes widened and she sat up, looking closely at it.

"I know that master broke yours, and I know how much it meant to you. I wish I could get it back, but I couldn't fix it, so I made you this one."

Charlotte locked eyes with Emily, not even sure how to respond.

After a moment, the girl threw her arms around Emily, and hugged her gratefully.

Emily returned the hug, sighing happily and kissed the top of her head.

"Mommy?" Charlotte asked, a little more tentatively as she laid back down.

"Yeah sweetie." She answered, rubbing her back as Charlotte shut her eyes.

"I wove you" she said, now drifting off to sleep.

Emily's breath hitched. "I love you too Charlotte" she said.

Finally, Charlotte was back.

 **A/N- review if you want this continued!**


	30. Phone Calls

Once Charlotte was napping, Emily returned downstairs to her office to call back a list of people, starting with Hotch.

"Hi, Emily" he greeted. She could hear the concern in his voice. "How is she doing?"

"Better." Emily answered truthfully. "But it wasn't easy. And I can't imagine her going through it again, but I guess she'll have to go back to therapy soon..." Emily trailed, frowning into the phone.

"One step at a time, Prentiss. Yes, she'll go back to therapy, and yes, she'll have more rough days. But then she'll start to have some ok days, and even a few good. And she'll keep having them until her mind learns she doesn't have to worry about the bad anymore." Hotch said.

Emily was a little taken back. She knew her supervisor was speaking from experience with Jack after Hailey died, and he very rarely let down that wall. It meant a lot to her that he was offering his advice.

She nodded. "You're right." She answered.

"I do have some good news, though. Garcia and Reid were able to narrow the search pool based off responding officers and doctors of Charlotte's moms death, and they've found the final suspect. She won't have to do a cognitive."

Emily let out a huge breath of relief. There was no way she could let Charlotte go through a cognitive interview this fragile, and she was grateful she didn't have to try.

"Thank you" she answered sincerely.

"Of course. Please keep me posted on her." He said, then paused. "...And Prentiss, if you ever need to talk, you know I'm here." He said in his same serious tone, but Emily could hear the softness under it.

She smiled. "Thanks Hotch. Talk to you later."

Her next call was to the pediatrician, who had left her a message asking her to call back.

"Hi Dr. Coves, it's Emily Prentiss." She spoke.

"Hi Agent Prentiss, thank you for returning my call. How's Charlotte?" She asked

"Honestly, she had a rough couple days between your office and her last therapy session... she had her first break through but it came with a lot of flashbacks and hard memories. At the moment she's doing ok." Prentiss informed her.

"I'm glad to hear she's ok at the moment. These really are step by step cases, and you're doing a great job with her. How is the syphilis treatment? Has she been taking the medicine?"

"Yes. And we've put the cream on. The rash seems to be subsiding a lot but my bigger concern is that she just won't tell me when she is in pain, so it's hard to tell."

"I understand. Let's plan for a follow up in 2 days. We will need to take blood to see if the infection disrupted any internal functions and I'll do another visual examination of the area." Dr. Coves said.

Emily groaned silently. Taking Charlotte to the doctors was a miserable experience for both of them.

"I know how hard it is, but she has a very serious infection. We can't afford to not monitor it. But, I recommend another therapy session between now and then so she can start to further decipher that she's not being punished while she's here."

Emily nodded. "I understand. Thank you" she said.

"Of course. Call if you have any questions and I'll see you soon" Dr. Coves said.

Emily nodded and hung up.

After calling Melissa back to update her and the therapist to set up an appointment for the next afternoon, Emily stood up to check on Charlotte when her phone rang again.

She debated whether or not to let it ring through, but eventually sighed and answered it.

"Emily Prentiss" she picked up.

"Hi Mrs. Prentiss, this is Lucy from Shine Dance Studio! Se just wanted to confirm that Charlotte will be in our beginner ballet class tomorrow morning?" She replied in a cherry tone.

Emily hung her head back, annoyed. She had completely forgotten about signing up Charlotte for dance. Her first instinct was to cancel, but after thinking a minute she decided to play it by ear and see how Charlotte was doing. Putting her in activities and fun things with girls her age would only help her.

"Yes, she will be there. Looking forward to it." Emily answered carefully.

"Wonderful, you have a great day now!" Lucy replied, and hung up.

 _Now_ Emily was finally ready do check on Charlotte, and half way up the stairs, she met her while she was on her way down.

Charlotte giggled upon meeting her halfway.

"I alweady up!" She informed Emily, giggling again.

Emily laughed too. "You are!" She said, as the two walked downstairs into the kitchen.

"Ok, question for _you_ " Emily said, poking her arm playfully. "Do you still want to take dance class like we talked about? If you do you can go tomorrow morning, but we can always wait too" Emily said.

Charlotte was shaking her head yes eagerly before Smily had even finished.

"I want to!" She confirmed. "Pwease."

Emily smiled. "Well alright then" she said, standing from the table and grabbing her keys.

"Whewe are we going?" Charlotte asked, eyes wide.

"To find you some ballerina clothes!" Emily said, letting Charlotte climb into her arms happily.

 **A/N- Sorry it's taken to long to update! But I need some reader feedback! I know we all love happy and mushy chapters... but I've been balancing it so far with some sad/ hard chapters like therapy or doctor's visits which Charlotte finds hard. Do you want this balance of challenging and mushy chapters still? Let me know in the comments :)**


	31. Shopping for Dance

**I apologize for uploading the wrong chapter last night! I was so tired when uploading that I must have hit the wrong document. The chapter uploaded is actually part of one of my other stories, "Emma" so feel free to check that out to understand the context of it haha. Here is the correct chapter for "Broken Beauty" Sorry about that and I hope you enjoy!**

The drive to a near by dance store didn't take long, and Charlotte was ready and eager to go in once the had arrived.

Emily smiled as she picked her up out of her car seat and carried her inside.

Her eyes grew upon entering and seeing rows and rows of leotards, tights, shoes, costumes, and accessories.

Emily chuckled at her amazed expression and set her down so she could start looking.

"Hi, can I help you two with anything?" A young woman behind the counter greeted with a smile.

"She actually has her first ballet class tomorrow" Emily said with pride. "So we're looking for some ballerina attire."

The woman smiled. "Well all of our 4-7 year old section will be on this wall here" she said, gesturing to the right, "and all of our tights and shoes are here. If you need any help, just let me know." She explained.

Emily nodded. "Great, thank you" she replied, then went over to Charlotte who stood staring at the wall of pink, white, and black leotards.

"Ok, let's pick 3?" Emily proposed, and Charlotte nodded with a grin.

Even though she had been with Emily for a little while now, being able to have choices was still one of the best feelings for her.

Charlotte tentatively raised her hand to point to a light pink short sleeved leotard with small fabric roses around the round neckline.

Emily smiled and picked her size, then held up a black long sleeves with sparkles for her approval.

Charlotte nodded eagerly and then pointed to another light pink one, this one sleeveless and a ruffle pattern at the top.

Emily grabbed it and added it to their pile, then held her hand over to the tights and shoes.

The shop worker watched in awe.

Emily carefully read the labels and found the most opaque tights she could in white, pink, and tan, so that Charlotte's cuts and bruises wouldn't show through.

Then, she got a wrap around flowy skirt to add, and found ballet slippers that were just the right size for Charlotte's tiny feet.

Finally, they went over to the registrar and paid for heir purchases, then, proud of their successful trip, returned home.

It was a fairly relaxed night. In preparation for the next day, Charlotte watched some more of a ballet documentary while Emily cooked, then the duo ate. Charlotte's appetite was back and she was eating like she had been before, much to Emily's relief.

Then, she colored a coloring book page and allowed Emily to help her shower.

Once she took her out of the shower, Emily could see the rash peeking out from the towel, even though it was healing. She gently lifted Charlotte up on the toilet seat and grabbed her balm.

"Can I put it on?" Emily asked. She was always very careful to ask her permission.

Charlotte nodded, a little more wearily, but allowed her to put it on then rushed into her pjs.

Emily didn't even want to think about telling Charlotte she'd have to go back to Dr. Coves in a couple days... that was not a conversation she'd have a fun time hearing.

Emily pushed her worried thoughts away as Charlotte finished brushing her teeth, then went to read her a story.

By the end of the book, Charlotte's eyes were dropping and she was clearly ready for bed.

Emily turned off the light, then went over and pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Good night sweetheart, Mommy loves you."

Once she was back downstairs, she cleaned up and waited anxiously for 8:30 to come so Derek would be there.

The last few days, they had barely spent any time _together_ since Charlotte was always sleeping with them.

Not that either of them minded but... still. She missed being in bed with him.

At 8:32 when she heard the knock she opened the door and didn't waste any time, planting a long, deep kiss on his lips at the door frame.

"Woah woah" he said with a laugh after she broke off. "What's with the haste?"

"We haven't had alone time in almost three days" she said, leading him into the bedroom.

He laughed. "Yeah, having a kid will kinda so that to you."

She grinned mischievously and slowly climbed up in the bed. "Well thankfully she's asleep. and we're _not."_

He grinned too and joined her in bed, then slowly pressed a kiss on her cheek, then lips, the down her neck and collarbone.

She moaned softly as arched her head back feeling Derek on her.

Very slowly, he lifted her shirt up and brought the kisses down to her stomach, pressing them on one by one and teasing her.

After a minute, he slid his hand under her waistband and let his fingers work her.

Emily's hips bucked and she moaned again grinding up against his hand.

She pulled him up for another deep kiss while he slid off his pants...

* * *

The next morning came soon but Emily awoke feeling content from the night before.

She silently got out of bed to make breakfast for her two loves, and couldn't help but thank God for her life at that moment- what Charlotte and Derek, she felt like she was complete.

 **A/N- it would mean so much and help he write faster if you just left a review. Have a great day!**


	32. First Ballet Class

"Good morning" Derek greeted shuffling into the kitchen as Emily finished their eggs and pancakes.

"Good morning to you" she replied, stealing a quick kiss.

He picked up the newspaper on the counter and started to glance through it.

"So what's your plan for the day?" He asked

"Ballet class at 11, lunch out somewhere, telling her she has to go to therapy, therapy at 2, come home, hope she's ok, bath, tell her she has to go back to the doctors in the morning, and try to find a way to deal with her reaction to that." Emily listed off

He chuckled lightly at the end, but they both knew that when the time came to talk to her about therapy and the doctors, they wouldn't be laughing anymore.

Derek's phone vibrated and he pulled it out to read his message while Emily poured them coffee.

He took his mug and the went to sit down at the table.

"That was Hotch" he informed, taking his seat across from her.

"I got pulled from going back to arrest the other sons of bitches and the teams flying there today which means..."

"Which means you can be with us today?" Emily exclaimed, eyes full of gratitude.

He winked at her and stood up to wash their coffee mugs as Charlotte came down the stairs and strode into the kitchen, smiling sheepishly and rubbing her eyes with her hands in fists.

"Good morning sweetheart" Emily greeted, pulling the chair out next to her so Charlotte could sit.

Charlotte skillfully pushed herself up onto the chair and sat up.

"Hi Mommy and Dewek" she replied with her smile that made Emily's heart melt.

"How'd you sleep champ?" Derek asked, sitting next to her as Emily put together a plate with a heart shaped pancake and some scrambled eggs for her.

"I sweep good" Charlotte replied, putting her thumb in her mouth.

Emily smiled and placed the plate in front of her.

Her face broke out into a grin seeing that it was both her favorite breakfast, pancakes, _and_ shaped into a heart.

"Tank you Mommy!" she said, starting to eat.

"You are most welcome my love" she replied.

Once she was finished, Derek took her plate while Emily helped her up from her chair.

"Ok, ready to get dress for dance?" Emily asked enthusiastically

Charlotte nodded with a grin and hopped up the stairs with Emily following close behind.

* * *

An hour later the three walked into the studio.

Charlotte kept pulling at her leotard nervously, but she was still excited.

She looked adorable in her pink leotard with flowers, pink tights, and ballet slippers. Emily had even managed to pull her hair back into a clean ballerina bun.

"Hi, we're here for beginner ballet" Emily greeted to the person sitting at the front desk.

"Great! Name?" She asked, typing at the computer.

"Charlotte" Emily replied for her. She looked down and saw Charlotte had her thumb back in her mouth, cautiously taking in her new surroundings.

"Ok, class will be starting in about 10 minutes in studio C to the left" she said. "Is this your first class?"

Emily nodded.

"So the way it works is starting 15 minutes before students are allowed to go into the studio and start warmups. For the class itself, there's a windowed wall that parents can observe through. Classes are just starting up for fall so if she sticks with it she could be in our winter concert!" She said, handing them some fliers with information.

"Amy other questions?" She asked kindly

"Were all good, thanks" Derek said, flashing her his bright smile.

The three walked down the hall together towards studio C.

On their way, various dancers of all ages could be seen through huge windows in class and darting down the hallways.

Charlotte shuffled to cling a little closer to Emily, starting to feel nervous.

"Hey, this is just for fun baby girl" Derek comforted, noticing her change in position. "We'll be out here the whole time. And if you want to stop, just come out to us, ok?"

Charlotte nodded and her apprehension lessened slightly with Derek's advice.

At the end of the hall, they found studio C with a few girls Charlotte's age already warming up and running around inside.

Emily and Derek looked down to read Charlotte and could see that she was definitely intrigued.

"What do you think sweetheart? Want to go try?" Emily asked her.

Charlotte thought for a moment holding onto Derek's hand, but after a moment nodded and took a tentative step into the studio towards the children.

Derek and Emily watched anxiously, but within minutes she was running, laughing, and smiling with the other kids like they had known each other for years.

Emily felt over the moon that she was going well with kids her age _and_ having a great time.

Derek and Emily were just as mesmerized as Charlotte was during the class itself, and they kept themselves glued to the viewing wall watching every second of her first class.

Charlotte twirled, plaited, and leaped, and ran all around the studio with the class, and from the look on her face, you could tell she was having the time of her life.

And, all things considered, she was actually pretty good.

It was clear that she was one of the top few students in the class, and picked up the combinations quickly.

At the end of the 45 minute class, she ran out to Derek and Emily giddy with excitement.

"That was so much fun!" She squealed as Derek lifted her into his strong arms.

Emily beamed. "Well, I'm glad to hear that because you can come back every week and take class."

Charlotte's eyes widened. "T'ank you Mommy! It weally liked it." She said as they walked out towards the car.

"Ready for some lunch superstar?" Derek said, tickling her side a little bit.

She giggled and nodded.

"Well alrighty then, lets go find some food!" He replied.

 **A/N- thank you for all of your continued support and patience as I try to write around my crazy schedule! Please keep reviewing, I read each one and they make my day and it will help me write the next chapter faster, promise.** _ **Also feel free to leave any suggestions or what you want to see happen in the coming chapters! I will listen to your thoughts :)**_


	33. Flashbacks

**Warning- this is a sad chapter and parts are graphic. Read at your own discretion.**

About 20 minutes later, Derek, Emily, and Charlotte sat in the booth of one of their favorite restaurants.

Charlotte had been happily rambling on about dance since the moment they had gotten in the car, and only stopped to tell Emily what food she wanted.

Emily and Derek couldn't have been more thrilled at how happy and talkative she was, but once their food arrived, they both glanced each other with long faces and knew they had to talk to her about the rest of the day.

"So Charlotte" Emily started after Derek helped her cut up her food. "After this, we're going to go and talk to Dr. Freeman for a little bit, ok? You're going to be ok though."

Charlotte slowly put her fork down and retracted weakly within herself. It was like all the light she just had was suddenly extinguished by Emily's words.

Emily sighed and rubbed her face.

She felt like the world's worst mother even though she was trying to help her daughter.

Derek could see how hard her reaction was hitting Emily, so he took over.

"Look at me baby girl" he said to Charlotte gently.

Charlotte slowly raised her face, thumb back in her mouth.

"I know you're scared. I know you didn't like it last time you were there. But we can't just ignore some of bad things that happened to you. None of them were you fault, but we need to help you heal, and the only way to do that it by talking. Just remember that no one will ever hurt you again. We won't let that happen. We're just going to help you feel better." He said

Charlotte shook her head weakly, looking overwhelmed.

"B-but I don't want to" she whispered, making Emily and Derek's hearts sink into their chests.

"Oh I know baby girl, but please just trust me that it's going to help you. We love you and we only want to help you" Derek reminded her.

Charlotte felt too overpowered to even try and fight back.

Sometimes with Master, it was best to just stay quiet and do as she was told, otherwise she'd get in trouble.

She figured she should just keep the same mindset, so she looked down and half heartily picked at her food for the next ten minutes until Derek paid the check and the three stood to leave.

Emily held out her arms for Charlotte, who tentatively got into them, then wrapped herself around Emily and sniffled into her shoulder, scared.

* * *

About a half hour later they were in the FBI elevator on their way up to the floor with the BAU and Dr. Freeman's office.

Derek went to talk with the team members who were still there.

Rossi and JJ had gone to arrest the other men who had abused Charlotte, but the others were in the bullpen talking through some cases.

Emily held Charlotte's hand into Dr. Freeman's office, and sat down next to her on the couch.

After a moment Dr. Freeman entered with a comforting smile on her face.

"Hi Charlotte" she said gently. "How are you today?"

Charlotte shrugged, still looking down. "Ok" she answered.

"Charlotte I was hoping maybe we could play a game together today. Would that be ok?" She asked.

Dr. Freeman knew she'd have to tread very carefully with Charlotte's appointments.

She let down too many barriers at her last appointment and it took a long time for her to recover.

Charlotte's demeanor brightened ever so slightly hearing that'd they'd be playing a game, and she nodded her agreement.

Dr. Freeman smiled and stood up to get it from her shelf.

Emily took the opportunity to get Charlotte Mr. Turtle form her bag.

She placed it into her arms and pressed a gentle kiss on her head.

"I love you sweetheart, I'll just be in the bullpen where we were before." She said, and with that, walked out to the bullpen.

Dr. Freeman put down Candyland in front of her, and started to set up the pieces.

Charlotte got a little bit distraught looking at the whimsical board game and all the pieces with it.

"But I- I not know how to pway this" she said to Dr. Freeman.

"That's ok Charlotte, I'd be happy to teach you" she replied kindly.

"You're going to pick a card, and whatever color is on the card it the color space you'll move to. If you get 2 colored squares, you get to move 2 colored spaces. You want to try and get all the way to the castle first. I can help you through the rest of it. Ready?"

Charlotte nodded, quickly comprehending the directions.

She picked up a card with a yellow dot and moved her character forward.

Dr. Freeman did the same.

They both played in silence for a few moves, until Dr. Freeman could see Charlotte more relaxed.

"So how has your week been?" Dr. Freeman asked casually

Charlotte shrugged and got just a bit more defensive now that she was trying to talk to her again. "It was good" she said

"I heard you had dance class this morning?" She asked

Charlotte's apprehension left and her smile returned when she thought about dance and she nodded proudly. "It was weally fun" she said.

Dr. Freeman smiled too. "I'm glad to hear that."

They continued to play in silence for another minute, before Dr. Freeman spoke again.

"I also heard you had a few nightmares this week. Anything you want to talk about?" Dr. Freeman asked.

Charlotte turned over a green square and moved her piece up, taking a slight lead in the game.

"It makes me sad to think about them" she said

"Do you usually remember them?"

Charlotte nodded.

"But you don't like to tell your mom about them?"

"Sometimes I do but sometimes I'm afwaid to." she answered, a little defensively.

"It's ok honey, you're not in trouble. Is it usually the same dream?"

"Pawt of it is" she replied.

"Are you back where you used to live or here with your Mom in the dream?"

Now Charlotte's mind wouldn't stop replaying the dream.

The dream that stemmed from a flashback, but Charlotte didn't realize that, and that flashback came on suddenly and vividly...

 _"It's $800 for the half hour." Hosben negotiated to a potential new client, an ER doctor from the hospital nearby. "She'll do anything you want her to, no limits. Blond hair, green eyes, just like you wanted"_

 _He grunted. "$800 is a steep price. Let me see her"_

 _Charlotte could hear the conversation from downstairs, and she was terrified. Who was with Master? It was only ever Master. What was about to happen to her?_

 _Hosben lead the way down the basement steps and the doctor waited at the base._

 _"Come here you little slut" Hosben growled with a sinister look across his face._

 _He crossed the room swiftly to where Charlotte was tied to a pipe in the basement and pulled hard on the knot, yanking her arm in the process._

 _She yelped in pain, and all it got her was a sharp slap across the face._

 _"Stop acting like such a baby" he ordered, before pulling a mini water bottle from his jacket pocket, and opened the top._

 _Charlotte's eyes widened and she held her hands out hopefully._

 _She hadn't had any water in 2 days, and she was so thirsty._

 _Being thirsty was even worse than being hungry. She needed water._

 _"You want it?" Hosben asked in a fakely sweet voice._

 _Charlotte nodded eagerly._

 _The doctor at the stairs laughed at how desperate she was._

 _Hosben grinned then drank the whole bottle, and threw it at her, empty._

 _Charlotte whimpered._

 _She just wanted some water. Why couldn't she have any?_

 _"You're going to do whatever this man wants to. Then, I'll give you water, got it?"_

 _The man approached, and took a rough handful of Charlotte's silky blond hair._

 _Charlotte tried to crawl back but Hosben grabbed her shirt and yanked her forward a few feet._

 _"What did I just say?" He growled, inches from her face._

 _"I-I sowwry" she whispered._

 _The man laughed. "You were right. She's perfect." He said with a grin, pulling out his wallet._

 _He counted out 8 $100 bills and gave them to Hosben before turning back to Charlotte._

 _"Have fun" Hosben said, then went back up the stairs._

 _Now alone with the strange man, Charlotte felt more alone and more frightened then ever._

 _The man sat down with his legs crossed and then patted them._

 _"Come here" he requested, in a rather level voice._

 _Charlotte was frozen, not sure what to do._

 _"NOW!" He yelled and Charlotte scampered over across the floor onto him, trying to avoid another beating from not listening._

 _He grinned, putting her on top of him. "That's right" he said._

 _"Do you feel this?" He asked, taking her hand and putting it between his legs._

 _"That's going to go inside of you" he whispered into her ear, pulling her tattered shirt from her body._

 _Her eyes widened in horror as he started to grope her small chest._

 _"M-mommy?" She called out looking around, frightened._

 _The man laughed. "Call for whoever you want, you're mine right now."_

 _He yanked her pants off too, then continued to put his mouth and hands all over her body._

 _Charlotte started to cry. She knew it was wrong. It never felt good or right, but Master would always do it to her too._

 _He mercilessly jammed one, then two fingers into her, and she screamed._

 _He just laughed again, then threw her on her back._

 _"No huwt! Pwease no huwt PWEASE!" She yelled._

 _The man pulled her up slightly by the ends of her hair, shoved her legs apart, and without warning thrust himself all the way inside of her 4 year old body and punched down on her side._

 _"NO! STOP! PWEASE!" She screamed._

 _"_ Charlotte you're ok.."

 _She had never felt so much pain in her life._

 _"_ STOP HUWTING ME! PWEASE"

"Sweetheart no ones hurting you right now, you're stuck in a bad memory. _"_

Charlotte finally snapped back into the office, and looked around, unable to comprehend the flashback she just had and just as frightened as she was in the basement.

"Charlotte I want you to focus on my voice and take a deep breath.." Dr. Freeman started, but it was no use.

Charlotte jumped up and darted out of the office before Dr. Freeman even finished her sentence.

She needed her mom. Where was she? She wasn't safe anymore, and she needed her Mommy or Derek to be safe.

Charlotte sprinted into the BAU bullpen with tears flying down her face.

"Mommy?" She called out, frantically looking around and seeing agents concerned and confused faces looking back at her.

Hotch had just walked out of his office and was going to deliver a case report to Reid when he saw Charlotte crying in the middle of the BAU bullpen.

"Mommy!" She wailed again, looking around.

Hotch dropped the file and walked over to her immediately.

Instinctively, he dropped to her level and tried to make eye contact with her.

"Charlotte? Charlotte talk to me. Are you hurt? Where's Dr. Freeman?"

"I. Want. My. MOM!" She wailed again, and began to sob more heavily.

"Reid! Get Prentiss. She's with Garcia. NOW" he demanded, and turned his attention back to Charlotte, then to Dr. Freeman who had just entered the doorframe.

Morgan had just come back from the bathroom, and when he saw Dr. Freeman's frame in the doorway, he knew something was wrong.

Then he heard Charlotte's sobs, and he sprinted in to her and lifted her up.

She was hyperventilating in his arms.

"I TOLD HIM NO HUWT. PWEASE, I sowwy, sowwy!" She cried between loud, heart wrenching sobs.

The rest of the team, Hotch included, watched in utter disbelief.

The elevator doors opened and Emily came running out into the bullpen and to Charlotte.

"Mommy! He huwt me! Don't wet him huwt me pwease. PWEASE" she cried in desperation, squirming to leave Derek's arms and get into Emily's.

Emily took her immediately and she finished breaking out of her flashback.

She looked around her surroundings, confused.

"It's ok Charlotte." Emily whispered to comfort her. "Come on. I'm not leaving you."

And with that, they walked out and back into Dr. Freeman's office.

Emily didn't care how long it took. They were going to work through this together.

And Charlotte was going to know that she wasn't alone.

Not anymore.

 **I hoped you enjoyed! I wrote a much longer chapter to thank you for all the feedback you've been giving this story! And shoutout to the reviewer who suggested and inspired this scene. Please review! Any thoughts and ideas are appreciated and I will likely work your idea into the story! :)**


	34. Big Progress

Back in Dr. Freeman's office, Emily cradled Charlotte's body in her arms and sat down on the couch with her.

She looked calmer than before being in Emily's arms, but her thumb was back in her mouth and her eyes were filled with sadness.

"Emily, I'm going to be quite honest that I'm worried these memories, despite our best efforts, have resurfaced much faster and more vividly than our original treatment plan was hoping for. With someone so young that's dangerous, and we need to work through them with her. I'm recommending a treatment called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR. It's a type of psychotherapy that uses the same rapid eye movement our brain completes during sleep to acknowledge and reprocess traumatic memories. We have a device that moves a light back and forth that Charlotte would follow with her eyes simulating REM while thinking of a specific painful memory. By doing so, her brain will reprocess much faster and blur the memory to help dull the emotional trauma with it. I do think this is our best treatment plan at the moment. Do you consent to this?" She asked

Emily thought for a moment. It was a lot to take in, but she needed to make a decision for Charlotte.

She looked down at her and saw her bright green eyes staring back, wet with the beginnings of fresh tears.

She couldn't stand to see her look so traumatized. If the doctor thought his was best, she needed to trust.

"Would I be able to stay in here with her?" Emily asked.

"Normally we don't recommend it, but in this case, I think it would be more detrimental if you left." She answered.

Emily gently lifted Charlotte up a little bit more.

"What do you think Charlotte? Do you think you could just listen to the doctor for a little bit? You can stay right here in my arms, I won't leave you." Emily said

Charlotte removed her thumb from her mouth. "Pwomise?" She whispered.

Emily nodded solemnly. "I promise sweetheart."

Charlotte nodded her consent, and Dr. Freeman set up the light scanner on the table.

It looked like a long black piece of wood, about 18 inches long, but a small dot of light moved back and forth across it.

Emily sat her up a little bit more so she could see the light device but made sure to still hold her securely so she'd know she was safe.

"Ok Charlotte, how do you feel right now?" Dr. Freeman asked

She shrugged before answering, "Sad" looking down at her lap.

"Why are you sad?"

"Becawse I keep thinking about the dweam memowy." She mumbled, defeated.

"When you think about that memory, how scared does it make you feel from 1-10? 1 is not scared at all and 10 is really really scared."

She thought for a minute. "9?" She answered.

Emily shut her eyes in sad disbelief.

"Ok Charlotte. I want you, with your eyes, to follow this light back and forth.." she said, pointing towards the light dancing across the long black device."

Charlotte did so, black and forth.

"Good honey. Very good. Now I know it's hard, but think back to that dream, and keep following the light. Where are you in it?"

Charlotte's eyes travelled back and forth twice before answering.

"In the basement."

"Is there anyone else with you?"

She sniffled, still following the light as she was told. "Mastew and a man."

"Good, just keep following the light. What we're you feeling?"

"I was _thiwsty._ Mastew took watew but then he dwank it and thwew it at me and said I had to do what the man wanted"

"Did the man say anything?"

"He pulled my hair and paid Mastew. Then Mastew left."

"Then what happened sweetie?"

"He-h" Charlotte stopped suddenly, only looking at the light. Emily could feel her body stiffen in her lap at whatever she was thinking

"It's ok Charlotte, you can say it." Dr. Freeman encouraged.

"He _huwt_ me. And I said no huwt!" She whimpered.

"What did he do Charlotte?" She asked

"He took off my cwothes and he touched me. And then he put his hand between my legs. An it _huwt!"_ She cried.

"I know honey, I know. I want you to keep looking at the light, you're doing a great job."

Charlotte dutifully looked back and forth at the light, and Dr. Freeman waited a few minutes for her to keep doing it.

"What happened after his hand?" She asked

"He put between his wegs into mine and it huwt me _weally_ bad. And he punched me." She finished.

"How did you feel?"

"It huwt me so bad and I was yelling but he didn't wisten." The last part came out so quiet it was almost a whisper.

"Follow the light, you're doing great sweetheart."

Charlotte continued to.

"Now how are you feeling?"

"Sweepy?" Charlotte asked.

"From one to ten like before, think back to that basement, how scared are you?"

She thought for a moment still looking at the light.

"4?" She finally spoke up.

Emily's eyes widened.

4.

 _4._

It was _helping_ her. Slowly and painfully but it was helping.

Dr. Freeman also smiled.

"You've been very brave Charlotte, why don't we just take a little break before we continue?"

 **Reviewers make writers happy and happy writers write more! Shoutout to the reader who suggested the EMDR, great idea! Keep the reviews and ideas coming!**


	35. Daddy

Two hours later, an exhausted Emily and Charlotte returned home with Derek promising to meet them back as soon as he finished up some paperwork.

The rest of the session was challenging, but they had made tremendous progress.

Charlotte went through EMDR with multiple memories of doctors as well as a couple with Hosben and the baths.

They really seemed to help her, but it was definitely hard to get her to think about them, and Emily hated seeing her go back to such a dark place.

Walking inside, Emily looked at the clock and saw it was around 4:30. Charlotte would have to be going to bed anyways in a few hours, so Emily would have preferred for her to not nap because that would make it harder for her to fall asleep. But after carrying her inside Emily could see from her face and drooping eyes that there was no way she'd make it a few more hours, and she didn't have the heart to not allow her to.

"Mommy can I take nap now?" She asked as if on cue, resting her head gently on Emily's shoulder.

"Of course sweetheart" she replied, already ascending the stairs and going into her room.

Charlotte was asleep as soon as Emily laid her down in bed, and Emily too went to rest in her room.

She set an alarm for an hour and a half and woke up at 6:10 feeling much more refreshed.

Stretching, she got up out of bed and went to check on Charlotte.

Approaching her room, Emily could see her light was on, so she knew she must be awake. But when she entered the room, the covers were pulled back, but Charlotte wasn't in her bed.

Trying not to panic, Emily went into full agent mode immediately checking the windows in her room and examining her desk to see if toys were missing before hearing the water running in her bathroom.

Emily let out a huge breath of relief and tried to calm her racing heart as she approached the bathroom.

The door was mostly ajar, and Emily gently pushed it open the rest of the way to find an upset looking Charlotte without pants on underwear on, furiously scrubbing at fabric in the sink.

Putting two and two together, Emily looked back at the bed and saw a wet spot right in the middle.

"Hey, love it's ok.." Emily said calmly, trying not to startle her.

Charlotte physically jumped at hearing her voice and dropped her leggings and underwear into the sink with a big splash all while trying to cover herself with her hands.

"I-I sowwy..." she started, tears welling up.

Emily swiftly crossed the room and retrieved a new pair of underwear and sweatpants and handed them to her.

Charlotte took them gratefully and turned away from Emily, embarrassed, and got changed into them quickly.

"I'm not mad honey." Emily said, leading her back to her bed and sitting on the edge of it with her. "But why didn't you come get me? You know I'll always be here to help you with things like this."

Charlotte's face turned a little deeper red. "I wasn't supposed to of and I not want to make you angwy" she mumbled.

"Im not angry honey" she repeated, wiping a tear that escaped with her thumb. "You don't have to be embarrassed. This happens. It's normal, ok?"

Charlotte nodded.

"Can I ask you a question?" Emily said

Another nod.

"Did you have a bad dream when this happened?"

Charlotte shook her head. "I not have dweam that I can wemember. I just woke up and this happened." She explained, gaining a little bit of her confidence back.

"Tell you what" Emily proposed. "You hop in the shower while I clean this up. Then we can have dinner with Derek. Does that sound good?"

A small smile of relief tugged at Charlotte's lips and she nodded gratefully, then jumped up to get in the shower.

* * *

An hour later, Charlotte was out of the shower and in pajamas, her bed was remade, Derek was on his way with food, and Emily and Charlotte sat at the kitchen table playing go fish.

"Do you have any... fives?" Emily asked.

Charlotte smiled and shook her head.

"No, you go fiwsh!"

"Do you have any thwees?" Charlotte asked.

Emily, in mock sadness, dramatically handed over a card from her pile with a three.

Charlotte giggled and put her match down as the doorbell rang.

Emily put her cards down and walked towards the door.

"This isn't over missy!" She exclaimed, making Charlotte giggle again.

"Hey" she greeted Derek, as he bent down to give her a quick kiss.

"Hey" he replied, walking in and slipping his shoes off. "How's she doing?"

"Better" she said, the two of her walking towards the table. "I can fill you in tonight."

He nodded and put the bag of pasta takeout on the table.

"Hey baby girl" he greeted Charlotte.

She smiled. "Hi Dewek!"

"Are you crushing mommy at go fish?" He asked

Charlotte giggled. "Just a wittle" she admitted.

Derek laughed and helped Emily set out plates and cups of water.

After eating, Emily did the dishes while Derek helped Charlotte scoop out some strawberry ice cream and put a mountain of whip cream on the top.

"Mommy can I watch mowe of the dance movie?" Charlotte asked hopefully once she finished her dessert.

Emily glanced down at her watch. "I suppose" she gave in with a smile and walking into the living room with her and Derek to turn it on.

The three of them sat on the couch, Charlotte snuggled between the two, and watched a little bit more of the movie until Charlotte started to wind down.

Emily sighed and looked at Derek as she paused the movie.

Charlotte looked up at them, confused.

"Baby girl we have to tell you something" Derek started. "Tomorrow morning were going back to Dr. Coves. She's gotta check on you to make sure you're doing ok. Your Mom and I will be with you the whole time though, ok?" Derek said

Charlotte's face dropped as she looked back and forth between Derek and Emily's faces.

"I don't wike the doctows..." she started

But just as Emily was about to cut in, she continued, "but... I know now that they won't huwt me like the othew man did. Right Mommy?" She asked, looking up to Emily for validation.

"Oh that's right sweetheart. We won't let them. I know you don't like her looking at you but it's just to help you feel better, and you can always ask her to wait or stop. She'll listen to you." Emily replied, elated that the therapy helped her not be so frightened.

Charlotte nodded wearily, but a minute later a small smile tugged at her lips.

"Can we get ice cweam aftew if I'm good?" She asked hopefully.

Emily and Derek both let out a chuckle as they stood and Emily lifted Charlotte into her arms.

"We will get ice cream no matter what." She promised as the three went back up the stairs.

Charlotte brushed her teeth and they both read her a story, then Emily handed her Mr. Turtle and put her new nightlight that Derek had went out and bought, on.

"Goodnight honey" Emily said, kissing her forehead.

"Night champ" Derek echoed, this time also gently kissing the tip of her head.

She smiled as she snuggled into her comforter. "Night Mommy and Dad- um Dewek. Sowwy" she said.

Derek's heart swelled. "That's ok Char, you can call me Dad. I don't mind." He promised.

Charlotte nodded with a small smile.

"Then goodnight Mommy and Daddy" she said, now drifting off to sleep peacefully.

 **Thank you for reading! How do you want the next chapter at the doctors to go? Easy visit? Sad/needs comfort? Fluff? Let me know that and any other thoughts/ideas in the reviews :) you all are awesome!**


	36. You'll be ok

A couple minutes later Emily climbed into bed next to Derek.

"Dad huh?" Emily said, not able to keep the smile off her face.

Derek also couldn't keep the sheepish grin from covering his.

"Yeah, I guess so" he replied with a happy chuckle.

Emily sighed contently and put her head down on his chest, listening to his strong heart beat.

He wrapped his arm around her.

"Hey now, you promised me details from earlier. What happened? How did she do?" He asked.

"She-" Emily started, but her breath hitched suddenly.

Derek sat up.

"Hey hey, talk to me. What's wrong?" He asked, voice laced with concern.

He wasn't used to seeing Emily cry... ever. Even in the field when she got beat up. Her crying meant that she was really hurting.

She sniffled and quickly wiped both eyes of tears, but some kept falling.

"Oh Derek you should have heard her. Those memories.. she..." Emily trailed, remembering everything Charlotte had disclosed that morning.

Derek patiently waited for her to calm herself and gently wiped a tear away from her eye.

She looked back up at him. "Those monsters _raped_ her. When she was four. Four! And beat her. And Hosben forced her into baths of scalding water. And all she would try to do is drink the water. Because he didn't give her any! And he would drink it in front of her and taunt her and not give it to her I just... Derek" she sobbed, putting her head down in his shirt.

Derek had to admit, he was having a hard time not getting emotional too hearing all the details of Charlotte's abuse. But he knew he needed to be strong for both of them.

"Shhh" he comforted, rubbing his strong hand along her back.

She composed herself and sat up again.

"I- and... we've seen worse. We've seen so much worse. But we just see pictures on a screen, and body tags. This... this is real. This is my daughter. And people raped and beat and tortured her and we didn't even know until she went through five years of it! Derek that's not fair!" She said, her voice on the verge of yelling and her hands clenched in fists.

"Hey, breathe princess, we don't want to wake her. Come on now" he said, effectively getting her to calm down before he continued. "It's not fair. None of this is fair. But we can't go back and change the past. And we certainly can't blame ourselves for not knowing. She was across the country Em. No one knew. We got her as soon as we could, and now she's here, safe. Smiling, happy, dancing. Today wasn't the first time she's going to have those bad memories, and it certainly won't be the last. I'm sure tomorrow won't be an easy day either. But we just have to keep being there for her, and loving her. Slowly, eventually, she'll understand that what she went through is in the past, ok?" He said.

Emily let out a sigh and nodded. She knew he was right. "Ok" she agreed, wiping the rest of her tears and snapping back to her normal self.

She kissed him and switched off the light beside them.

"Goodnight Derek" she said. "Thank you. For all of this, always being here."

"I always will be." he replied firmly. "I love you Emily Prentiss."

* * *

Morning came quickly and Derek and Emily both were dreading the doctors visit that day but they knew that had to put on cheerful faces for Charlotte so she wouldn't be too nervous.

Derek went downstairs to start on breakfast while Emily went to wake Charlotte.

"Good morning sunshine" she said, walking to Charlotte's bed and gently moving her shoulder.

"How'd you sleep sweetpea?" She asked when Charlotte blinked her eyes open.

"No bad dweams" Charlotte answered with a smile at the corners of her lips.

Emily's heart melted at how adorable she looked and knowing she had a good nights rest.

"Well I am very glad to hear that. Ready to get dressed? You can even pick your outfit." she offered, walking over to the dresser.

Charlotte hopped down from her bed still clutching Mr. Turtle and followed Emily.

Emily pulled out the drawer with shirts and Charlotte carefully selected a white short sleeve shirt that had pink roses on it, and Emily helped her pair it with pink leggings.

Charlotte then selected a blue and a green sock and Emily got her underwear.

She allowed Emily to help her unbutton her pj top, but Emily could feel her body stiffen at the close touch.

After giving her privacy to finish changing, Emily put her hair in two braids and helped her brush her teeth and feed Finny before going to eat breakfast and take her medicine.

Before they knew it, the three were in the car headed to the doctors again.

She had been fine all morning, but it was like as soon as they got in the car, Charlotte was all nerves again.

"M-mommy?" She spoke up as they left the neighborhood.

"Yes love?" She replied, looking at her in the rearview mirror.

"Will you be with me the whole time? Not just in the beginning like at the other doctows?" She asked.

"I will be with you for every second of it. I promise" Emily replied.

Relief crossed Charlotte's face momentarily.

"Daddy will you?" She inquired.

Derek's heart jumped at hearing her call him Dad again.

"That's up to you sweetie. Do you want me to be?" He asked.

She nodded instantly and then continued to fidget with Mr. Turtle.

They drove in silence for a minute before she spoke up again.

"Mommy?"

"Yes sweetheart?"

"Awe you suwe they not huwt me?" She asked

"They're not going to hurt you like Master did. They may have to look at you or touch you, but just to make sure you're ok. And you can always say stop. They'll listen, ok?" She answered

Charlotte nodded and looked back down for a minute.

"Daddy?" She asked

Emily and Derek glanced sadly at each other. They knew all these questions meant she was really nervous.

"Yeah champ?"

"Will they wook between my wegs?" She asked, biting her bottom lip.

"They probably will honey, but just to check that you're ok. They won't hurt you like Master or the other doctor. Remember, this is a good doctor who just wants to help you." He said

She nodded wearily.

Emily and Derek could already tell this would be tough.

Before she could ask another question though, they arrived and Emily parked the car.

She opened the back door and unbuckled Charlotte from her car seat, then lifted her into her arms and settled her on her hip.

Charlotte wrapped her arms around her neck tightly.

In the waiting room, her anxiety wasn't subsiding no matter what Emily and Derek did.

She wasn't interested in talking, reading, or playing with toys. She just sat in Emily's lap clutching Mr. Turtle while Derek offered words of reassurance.

"Charlotte?" Dr. Coves called a few minutes after arriving.

The three stood and Derek and Emily each took one hand and walked back with her to the back hallway.

 **Thank you for all the reviews and suggestions! Keep leaving your thoughts and ideas so I can write the next one and get it up soon! If I get a lot of reviews, I'll post it in 24 hours :)**


	37. Rough Doctor's Visit

First, they stoped to get her weight before continuing into the exam room.

A nurse came in and gave Emily some paperwork, and a couple minutes after, Dr. Coves came in.

"Hi Charlotte" she greeted warmly.

Charlotte didn't say anything but waved hello shyly from Emily's lap.

"How have you been since I saw you last?" She asked, encouraging Charlotte specifically to talk.

Charlotte shrugged and took her thumb out of her mouth to answer, "Good." She whispered.

"Have you done anything fun?" She asked, washing her hands.

"I had dance cwass" Charlotte answered after thinking for a moment.

"Dance class?" The doctor exclaimed. "Did you know that I used to be a dancer?"

Charlotte's eyes widened. "Weally?" She said.

It was like her whole vision of the young doctor changed.

Dr. Coves smiled and nodded. "Really. I danced all through school and even performed in a ballet until I hurt my knee. But now, I get to be a doctor and help people, so it all worked out."

She logged into her computer and sat down on a stool across from them.

"Ok Emily and Derek- good news is that Miss Charlotte has gained 6 pounds since you first brought her here. She's still well under what we'd like to see her at for weight but it's good progress. How has the medicine been going?"

"Good." Emily answered. "We only have a few of the tablets left and have been putting the balm on most nights."

"I'm very glad to here that." She said, typing a little more.

"Alright Charlotte, can you hop up on the table for me?" She asked, getting up to wash her hands.

Charlotte froze in Emily's lap and didn't move.

"Come on Charlotte, just up on the table, you'll be all right" Emily said, gently pushing her up a little to encourage her.

Charlotte shook her head furiously no, with her thumb back in her mouth, and her braids swung back and forth.

"Come on honey, you'll be just fine" she promised, now lifting her up and quickly setting her down on the table.

Charlotte burst into tears immediately.

"No! You pwomised you not leave me" she cried in a small, desperate voice that made Emily's heart ache.

"Ok, ok" Emily soothed, surrendering on this one. "I'll stay right by you" she promised, sitting next to her on the exam table. "No ones going to hurt you sweetie."

She and Derek exchanged glances.

This was _not_ a good start.

Dr. Coves brushed the panic outburst off like it didn't happen, and proceeded to check Charlotte's eyes and ears.

Even though she wasn't actually touching her, anytime an instrument got near her she flinched back from it.

She put her stethoscope in her ears. "Remember this from before Charlotte? It's just so I can hear your heart." She said, moving to put it on her back.

Charlotte seemed confused and like she was going to try to say something or move, but the stethoscope was on her back quickly and she calmed down a bit after feeling the harmlessness of it and allowed her to listen.

Surprisingly enough, her calmness remained as Dr. Coves took out a blood vile and needle to draw blood.

Charlotte's eyes watered up when the needle went into her arm, but she didn't fight it off like Emily was expecting.

Emily and Derek held their breaths, hoping that what they were seeing was all they had hoped: that Charlotte understood she was safe at the doctors and could separate her negative abuse memories from the present.

After handing the blood vile off to a nurse, the doctor sighed knowing what was next and silently got out an exam gown from the cabinet and placed it next to Emily, then excused herself from the room.

Once she left, Derek also excused himself so she could change without feeling embarrassed.

"Ok Char, you know the drill" Emily said, holding up the exam gown for her, hoping to make this as painless as possible.

Not wanting to risk making Emily mad, she tensely complied, but Emily could tell how much her anxiety was raising.

Charlotte felt vulnerable and scared.

She knew what the doctor was going to do and she wasn't happy.

Derek came back in and saw her slouched on the exam table, face looking down at her lap.

"Baby girl" he said, going to her and gently lifting her chin to meet his eyes. "We talked about this. This isn't like the other doctor. She just wants to help you, not hurt."

Charlotte gave a half hearted nod and continued to look down and swing her legs back and forth.

Derek and Emily knew how hard it was to go to the doctor no matter what they tried to tell her, and it broke their hearts to see her in so much discomfort.

A moment later, Dr. Coves knocked and came back into the room.

She quickly tested her knee reflexes and looked over all the visible healing bruises.

"These look so much better! In another week, I bet they'll be completely gone" she told Charlotte with a smile.

Charlotte's mood eased a little knowing this and she nodded, relieved.

The young doctor smiled back.

"Ok, can you lie down now for me Charlotte?" She asked kindly.

"I-I don't want to" she whispered.

"I won't hurt you" Dr. Coves reminded. "How about your dad can come hold your hand?" She compromised, remembering the good connection she had seen between Derek and Charlotte earlier.

At this Charlotte seemed to relax a little, and Derek came over immediately and took her small hand in his as she scooted back and some.

Dr. Coves smiled encouragingly and she laid down all the day.

"You're being very brave Charlotte" she commended. "I need to look between your legs now to make sure everything is healing ok. I won't hurt you though. If you're feeling scared, just squeeze your dads hand, ok?"

Charlotte tried to remember everything her mom and Dr. Freeman had told her- this was a good doctor, not a mean one. She could say stop and she'd listen. She was just trying to help.

Charlotte gently squeezed Derek's hand to test what Dr. Coves had told her and he gave it a reassuring squeeze back.

"Charlotte can you please pull your legs up to your tummy?" She requested

Slowly, Charlotte complied.

"Ok. Charlotte I'm going to take your underwear off now and open your legs, but I'm only going to look. And I won't hurt you." she reminded.

Charlotte's head shot over to Emily, and she could see tears threatening to fall.

She squeezed Derek's hand tight as the felt Dr. Coves lifting up the thin exam gown.

The doctor spread her legs apart and began, as quickly as she could, to visually examine the area.

Charlotte lasted about 10 seconds before the sobs began, and her eyes desperately looked over at Emily while she squeezed Derek's hand with all her strength.

"You're ok Charlotte, I'm just going to check one thing now" she explained, and as quickly and painlessly as possible put on two exam gloves and went to touch the area, checking for any genital rashes.

Right as her finger approached, Charlotte lost it, and burst out into tears, sobbing and rolling back and forth to try and stop her.

"Come on Charlotte, you're with us at Dr. Coves office, she's not going to hurt you" Derek reminded firmly, holding her arms in place to try and help.

"No! Stop howding me!" She cried. "Mommy!"

The doctor took a q-tip to swab which Emily knew was the last step and she knew Charlotte wouldn't get this far again.

"Honey it's ok, I'm right here, you're doing great." Emily said, standing beside her at the exam table.

"Mommy I don't wike this I want to stop, it huwts! Mommy!" She wailed, trying to squirm away from the doctors and q-tips touch.

As soon as her swab was done, Derek let go of her arms and let her free.

Charlotte stayed laying down, but curled on her side with tears streaming all down her face.

It broke their hearts to see her like that.

Emily went over to give her a hug and she attached herself to her mom, refusing to let go.

The doctor sighed and put up 3 fingers for how many shots she'd need and Emily and Derek both groaned internally.

Figuring it should all be done at once, Dr. Coves prepped the shots and came back in with them and an alcohol pad.

Charlotte had her head buried in Emily's lap so she didn't even see hat was coming until Dr. Coves was lifting her gown and pulling the top of her underwear down.

Charlotte wailed louder, confused.

Derek went over to hold Charlotte's legs still.

"You're just going to feel a little pinch" she told Charlotte, wiping an area on her bottom to inject the shots.

The first one wasn't too bad. Derek held Charlotte's legs still while Emily held her arms and she stopped trying to fight and laid still, barely reacting.

The second one was a little harder, and her crys began again. When she saw Dr. Coves prepping a third one, she twisted and squirmed to the side trying to hide her bottom from being sticked, and it broke Emily and Derek's heart to firmly hold her down in place to get the final injection.

When the needle pressed in, Charlotte screamed, but when it was over she just stayed frozen and quiet in place.

Dr. Coves left and Charlotte, after a few minutes and coaxing from Emily and Derek sat up an Emily wiped her eyes.

Silently and gently, they helped her out of her gown and back into her clothes.

When they were done, Emily lifted Charlotte who rested her cheek against Emily's shoulder, and drove to the closest ice cream store.

Charlotte wasn't crying and was responding which was a big step compared to the reactions of her previous visits

She ate her ice cream peacefully and clinged to her parents, refusing to be alone.

And she wasn't.

And they were all glad to be done with that visit, and glad she was ok.

 **Please pretty please review! What did you think? What do you want to see?**


	38. Adoption?

**I am so sorry I took so long to update! I hope you enjoy!**

 **SO I've been getting a range of reviews after the last chapter and wanted to give some explanation...**

 **I thought a lot about how I wanted to write the last chapter and wrote it as realistically as I could considering the situation at hand.**

 **Even though Charlotte had made progress in therapy, realistically, one session just starting to get through the surface of her years of abuse isn't wasn't going to keep her from being frightened.**

 **There were some instances in it that she reflected some better reactions after the therapy, but with the abuse she suffered, it wasn't going to stop her from being frightened at more triggering aspects.**

 **Additionally, there was one point at the end where Derek and Emily had to hold her still. While they told her that she could stop if it was really bad, they knew she'd have to get the shots and they were both there to be holding and comforting her and thought it would be worse at that point for her to stop and then have to go through the whole process again.**

 **Hope that cleared some things up and enjoy this chapter!**

Back home, the three had a relaxing night.

Charlotte was glad to be done with the doctors and Derek and Emily were too.

They were also glad that she was reacting much better after the appointment. With her previous ones, it had taken hours, or a day for her to understand she wasn't in danger, but this time it was almost immediate. It gave them hope that her therapy sessions were working even though they were challenging.

During dinner, Emily's phone rang.

She pulled it out and saw that it was Melissa calling, and she should take it.

She put up one finger to signal she'd be back to Derek and Charlotte then walked into her office to answer.

"Hello?" She picked up.

"Emily, hi. It's Melissa." She replied

"How are you?" Emily asked

"Good, good thanks. I have some great news for you. All of the paperwork was approved for Charlotte, and I got you an appointment to meet with a judge tomorrow. If all goes well, the adoption could be legalized by the end of next week." Melissa said, the happiness evident in her voice.

Emily's heart soared and she broke out into a huge grin.

"Really? That's amazing. When tomorrow?" She asked eagerly.

"11. Will someone be able to watch Charlotte while you meet with Judge Carlson?" She asked.

Emily smiled as she looked back at the table where Derek and Charlotte were playing with their food, making pictures with it.

"I think that can be arranged." She said smiling at them.

"Great, I'll see you then."

"Thank you so much" Emily said, and hung up.

She walked back to the table, unable to hide the grin from her face.

Charlotte giggled at the creation she had finished making on her plate.

"You look happy Mommy" she pointed out, smiling.

"Yes Mommy what're you so smiley about?" Derek teased.

"Well, tomorrow I've now got an appointment with the judge..." she said, smiling.

Derek's jaw opened slightly before smiling along with her. "Emily that's amazing!" He said, laughing in disbelief at everything happening so perfectly.

Emily looked down to see Charlotte's face twisted with confusion.

"Why a judge? Awe you in twouble?" She asked.

Emily chuckled. "No sweetpea, the judge will help sign things that will let you be adopted soon" she replied.

Charlotte smiled too. "That means I wive hewe fowever?" She asked hopefully.

Emily nodded. "That's exactly what it means." She said.

Charlotte's face broke out into a huge grin upon hearing this confirmation, and Emily couldn't help but hug her, which Charlotte returned quickly.

"But tomorrow I won't be here when I'm meeting with the judge and that means I'll need someone to stay with Charlotte..." she trailed looking to Derek.

Derek smiled, happy to be able to spend the next day bonding with Charlotte.

"Well I would like to volunteer my services" he offered.

Charlotte nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"What awe we gonna do Daddy?" Charlotte asked

"Oh that's a surprise princess" he said, tapping her nose and electing a giggle. "I can get pretty boy to join us." He thought out loud.

"That's a good idea" Emily smiled.

"Pwetty boy?" Charlotte repeated slowly, confused.

Emily and Derek chuckled at her pronunciation of their friends nickname.

"Spencer, who did all the rubix cube tricks with you" Emily clarified.

Charlotte nodded and smiled at getting to see him again.

"But" Emily said, looking at the clock, "that means we've got to get to bed monkey! You've got a fun day tomorrow" she finished, taking the threes empty dinner plates over to the sink.

"Ice cweam fiwst?" She spoke up hopefully to Derek who was still at the table with her.

"Always ice cream first" he replied with a wink, getting up to get the two bowls.

After enjoying their ice cream, it was time to get Charlotte ready for bed.

Emily got another phone call verifying the appointment for the next day.

"Can you take her up?" She asked Derek as she saw the number pop on her phone. "I'll come as soon as I'm done this call."

Derek nodded then walked to the table where Charlotte had just finished yet another puzzle and lifted her into the air, swung her around, and started walking towards the stairs.

"Whewe we going?" She giggled.

"Bedtime silly" he said, ascending the stairs and setting her down at the doorframe.

"Want to go pick some PJs?" He said.

She nodded obediently, walked to the drawer, and pulled out a pair.

"Good choice" he replied. "Do you need getting out of your shirt?" He asked, seeing her button down flannel style shirt and knowing buttons were still tricky for her.

She nodded, slightly hesitantly, and walked over to him.

His hands reached and got the top one unbuttoned, and Charlotte completely froze seeing men's hands taking off her clothes.

Even though it was just Derek, something clicked off in her mind as he reached for the second one and she wasn't in her room anymore, she was back on the ground in the basement...

 _"I said_ _ **get up**_ _." Hosben shouted to Charlotte's cowering frame. "_ _ **NOW.**_ _"_

 _Charlotte was so scared. She heard Master bring someone down with him and she hated that._

 _They were so mean to her, and they always hurt her._

 _She would much rather go without water than have to be alone with one of them._

 _A sharp kick met her side and she yelped, cowering down further in a ball._

 _Hosben was furious. How dare she behave like this in front of a paying costumer?_

 _He shrunk down to her level right next to her ear._

 _"If you don't get up and do as you're supposed to right now you will get the bath after this. And that won't even be the worst of it." He threatened harshly._

 _Charlotte gasped._

 _Not the bath._

 _She stood up as told and faced a man at least 5 inches taller than Hosben with dirty yellow teeth that showed in his menacing grin and a beer belly from his dirty shirt._

 _"Half hour" Hosben reminded, giving Charlotte a final hair pull before he ascended the stairs leaving Charlotte with that days monster._

 _The man wasted no time and ripped her shirt off her small body._

 _"N-no!" Charlotte whined, trying to turn away from him._

 _He slapped her face._

 _"You'd better start listening" he warned, starting to grope her chest._

"Noo stop it pwease!" Charlotte cried again.

"Charlotte, Charlotte sweetheart it's just me. Daddy.. Derek... you're in your room, you're safe" he said to her eyes darting around the room.

"No I don't want to do that! It huwts me!" She cried.

Emily had been ascending the stairs when she heard the unmistakable noise of Charlotte in distress, and she ran to her doorframe to see Derek crouched at her level, a safe distance away, trying to calm her.

He looked back and met her eyes.

"What happened?" She said, rushing over to them.

"Flashback" Derek mouthed to her with a sad look replacing his usual cheery one.

"Charlotte, honey? I want you to just take a deep breath. It's just mom and Dad sweetheart, we won't hurt you." Emily said, finishing breaking Charlotte out of her episode.

Her bright green eyes darted up and relief flooded them when she saw it was just Emily and Derek.

She sniffled and crawled over to her mom's lap.

"Shhh, you're ok. You don't ever have to do that again." She reminded, rubbing her back.

"Daddy I'm sowwy" she said after a minute of Emily calming her.

"Oh Char, you don't have to apologize. I shouldn't have tried to help there. You just got stuck in a bad memory, you have nothing to be sorry for." He told her.

Once Charlotte calmed down, she finished getting changed, took her medicine, and brushed her teeth.

Emily started to lead her to her bed, but Charlotte stopped in her tracks, and looked up at her Dad.

"Want to sleep with us champ?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

He lifted her as she returned her thumb to her mouth.

Once they got into bed, however, her excitement for the next days adventures returned. Emily and Derek welcomed the change knowing she usually was asleep as soon as her head took the pillow and got to read her twice as many stories making her happy and comfortable.

"Ok Char, we've _got_ to get to bed if you want to have energy for tomorrow's fun with Daddy and Spencer" she said.

Charlotte nodded obediently and she wiggled down further under the covers with a grin still covering her face.

Emily chuckled. "What are we gonna do with you?" She said, making Charlotte grin wider and turning out the light.

"Goodnight sweetheart, we love you very much" Emily said.

"Night champ, we love you honey" Derek echoed.

"Goodnight Mommy and Daddy" she replied, sleepily, drifting of peacefully to sleep.

The night was uneventful with no nightmares or bed wetting, another good sign to Emily and Derek.

* * *

At 6 am Charlotte woke up, too excited to fall back asleep, and eventually started to slide out of bed.

As she jumped down, Emily woke up.

She looked over at the clock and back to Charlotte.

"What're you doing up? Are you ok? Does anything hurt?" She asked, going into full mom mode.

Charlotte nodded her head, curls swinging back and forth.

"I'm just excited fow today! I could no sweep." She explained with a smile peeking at her lips.

Emily smiled at her happiness, and slid out of bed with her.

"Then I guess we should start today with a good breakfast... say... pancakes?" She suggested, knowing they were Charlotte's favorite.

Charlotte nodded with a smile.

It was going to be a fun day for them all.

 **A/N- I'm so sorry this took me** _ **forever**_ **to update! I hope people will forgive me and still read! As always please review with any suggestions for the next chapter and feedback. :)**


	39. Science Center with Derek and Spencer

Charlotte hopped down the stairs with Mr. Turtle in hand and Emily smiling behind her.

She was looking more and more like a happy, playful 6 year old every day. Even though Emily knew they still had a lot to work through, the Charlotte she first met huddled in the basement seemed like a distant memory replaced by the smiling girl in front of her, climbing on a chair to reach the pancake mix.

Emily helped her get the ingredients down and the two got to work mixing the ingredients together.

Charlotte got some blueberries from the fridge and put them in the mix, too.

Derek came downstairs rubbing his eyes about 10 minutes later, just as Charlotte was pouring the first pancake into the pan with Emily's help.

"You all do know it's not a weekday right? We can sleep in." He said

Charlotte giggled, "No daddy we had to make bweakfast!" She protested

"Oh well in that case" he replied, walking towards the table, but stopping to give Emily a kiss on the cheek on his way.

"Daddy what awe we doing today?" Charlotte asked excitedly a few minutes later as they poured the last of the batter in.

"Oh you'll see." He said teasingly. "And Spencer will be here soon"

Charlotte nodded with a grin and helped Emily put the dishes in the sink.

"Why thank you for your help love." She said, smiling at her. "I'll wash these, why don't you go eat" she said.

Derek helped Charlotte cut up her pancakes and made a smiley face on the pancake out of extra blueberries, making Charlotte giggle.

Just as the three were finishing up their breakfast, the doorbell rang, and Emily led Spencer in.

"Hey pretty boy" Derek greeted as he walked into the kitchen.

"Hi Spencew" Charlotte greeted politely, much more reserved then a few minutes before.

"Hey Charlotte!" He said, sensing her shyness. "Watch this" he said, reaching behind Derek's ear and pulling out a quarter then handing it to her with a smile.

Charlotte giggled and took it, her shyness gone.

Emily smiled watching the interaction before looking at her watch.

"Oh gosh I didn't realize how late it was! I've got to start getting ready!" She exclaimed.

"No worries, we're ready to go too. You get ready, drive safe, and let us know what happens?" Derek said.

Emily nodded, giving Charlotte a kiss on top of her head.

"Have fun with Daddy and Spencer, ok? I'll see you later sweetheart." She said

Charlotte nodded and gave her a hug, making Emily smile.

"Alright, I'll see you all later." She said ascending the stairs and mouthing a silent "thank you" to Derek and Spencer.

Emily heard the door close a few minutes later and knew Charlotte was safe and going to have a fun day with Derek and Spencer, but she couldn't help feeling a little weird without Charlotte. It'd been the first time, except for a short periods in therapy that she wasn't right within earshot or with her. She just felt off without her, even though it'd only be for a few hours. She couldn't help thinking about when she'd soon have to start school...

"Focus on getting her adopted first" she reminded herself, and continued getting ready.

Charlotte was having a great time so far, driving with Spencer and her dad.

They had told her once they started driving that they were going to a kids science center, Spencer's idea.

For how much she loved puzzles and art and creating things they knew it'd be a hit.

When the went inside, Charlotte's face filled with wonder at the all sights around her.

To the right was a hurricane stimulator, ahead was a big bubble making station, every wall was colorful and covered with factoids or activities, there were 3 foot blocks, a whimsical looking gift shop and so much more that she could even see yet.

Then, after buying their entrance tickets, Charlotte saw a huge puzzle station with the puzzle pieces as big as she was.

Her face lit up and she started walking over.

Derek saw it at the same time and chuckled at how perfect it was for her, following her over to it.

They spent the next 3 and a half hours visiting what seemed like a million fun exhibits, activities, and experiments.

Aside from the puzzle, they found another favorite demonstration on rubix cubes that they went to. After the science center worker demonstrated completing a rubix cube earning applause from the kids in the audience, Spencer volunteered as a helper, went on stage, and proceeded to solve it eyes closed behind his back making the science center worker huff in annoyance but Charlotte and the other children applaud enthusiastically.

He returned to his seat and smiled sheepishly at Charlotte's impressed face.

"You know not everyone can be a genius at everything, right kid? I mean these workers have jobs too" Derek said chuckling.

"Well, that may be the case but the method in which the worker was trying to solve it with was grossly ineffective not taking into account the probability of the outer cube's..." Spencer starter

"Yeah yeah we got it" Derek said, making Charlotte giggle again.

By the end, Charlotte was exhausted, but happiness was written all over her face.

They got a quick lunch and Derek's phone rang as they were finishing their lunch.

"Hey you" he answered, seeing Emily's name on the caller ID. "Any news?" He said, expecting good news on the other end.

"Well" Emily started, and Derek could hear the pain in her voice and knew the news wasn't what he was hoping. He quickly got up from the table to find a quieter place to talk while Spencer continued to entertain Charlotte.

"It's not a denial" she explained. "The judge just got concerned with the new medical findings and the not ideal therapy reports and fact that she hasn't started school yet... even with the full recommendations from Melissa, he just wants to see everything play out a little more and see more evidence that she's adjusting ok before making anything official." She explained

"Mo-more evidence?" Derek repeated, the frustration evident in his voice. "Em that's ridiculous. The only reason the syphilis was even found and treated was because of your vigilance. Without you she'd be way worse off.. I just don't get what he wants here."

"I know, I know. I'm mad too. Melissa said in some cases like this when they find medical issues or worse psychological damage then initially thought some foster parents back away because the medical costs are worse than they thought or they don't have the time to deal with it. Even though that'd never happen here he just wants to see more proof of that. I just need to keep bringing her to therapy and her follow ups and once she keeps making progress and the judge sees a little more permanent adjustment, it'll be official. But for now she's still ours, we just have to be patient." She explained.

Even with all the frustration he was feeling Derek's heart warmed a little hearing Emily say "ours." He knew they were headed down the marriage path, but hearing that still just made things feel more real.

"Ok, ok. Well she's had a great day here and we're leaving soon. It's going to happen, just a little later than we thought, that's all." He said

"Right." She confirmed. "I'm just going to stop for groceries and I'll be back in a little. And Derek...thanks for being with her today." She said

"Anytime" he replied. "See you in a little"

He walked back over to Charlotte and Spencer and saw Spencer look up at him expectantly.

Derek gave a subtle head shake to tell him. He saw the disappointment in Spencer's face, but neither of them were breaking it to Charlotte right then, so they hid their disappointment.

"Hey champ, ready to get back home?" He said to an increasingly tired Charlotte.

She nodded sleepily, and Derek lifted her up and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'll meet you guys at the car, I just have to make a quick call" Spencer said, and Derek nodded, heading out.

In reality Spencer went to the gift shop and got way too many "kids first science experiments" and activities then needed, but what kind of uncle would he be if he didn't spoil Charlotte some? Besides, instilling an early love of science in her was his responsibility.

After paying, he went out and got into the car.

Charlotte was already napping in the backseat but Derek saw all the bags with him.

He chuckled. "Emily's gonna kill you" he teased.

"Yeah yeah" Spencer said, rolling his eyes. "I bet she won't when her daughters the only first grader who knows how to make her own putty out of simple scientific elements." He retorted proudly.

This time, it was Derek who rolled his eyes before driving them back to Emily's house.

 **Please review if you want this continued! :) thanks for reading and sticking with it even though I had a crazy last few months and couldn't work on it!**


	40. Science with Spencer

As they arrived back at Emily's house, Charlotte woke up from her nap, and was too excited to see her mom and tell her about her day than to fall back asleep.

As soon as Derek unbuckled her from her carseat and lifted her from the car she bursted in through the door to her mom.

"Mommy!" She exclaimed happily as Emily lifted her up and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Did you have fun sweetheart?" She asked, smiling at her face.

Charlotte nodded eagerly. "So much fun! We got to see a huge puzzle- it was biggew than me! And I made bubbles and..."

Emily smiled as Charlotte continued to rattle off the days events as Derek and Spencer came inside. She raised an eyebrow at the large gift shop bags in Spencer's hands but then turned back to Charlotte.

"Well that does sound like a great day! I'm glad you had so much fun my love."

Derek could see Emily's look of happiness at Charlotte but he and Spencer could also pick up on the pain in her eyes from the judges decision earlier.

"Hey Charlotte" Spencer said, kneeling down to her level and pulling out the first thing he could from the gift shop bag- a "build your own rocket" set- "I picked this up for you after lunch, would you like to build it with me so your mom and dad can talk for a little?"

Charlotte's eyes lit up momentarily and she nodded her head eagerly before a look of worry started to flood her face.

Derek and Spencer who were facing her could both see it.

"Hey, remember that you don't have to do anything for this present. It's just something Uncle Spencer got you. You don't have to do those bad things anymore, ok?" Derek gently reminded her.

Charlotte knew this, but after her many years of it being the opposite, it was easy for her to forget sometimes, especially with such a giving and generous new family.

She nodded again, relieved and turned back to her mom. "Can I Mommy?" She asked.

Emily smiled and nodded, "Of course sweetheart," and she and Spencer went into the living room to start building it.

"You want to talk about it?" Derek asked, once it was just them in the kitchen.

Emily sighed and reluctantly sat down and the table, and Derek did the same.

"Derek what are we going to tell her?" She asked

"I.. I don't know Em. But we'll figure it out. We'll just make sure she knows that she _will_ get adopted and we still love her just as much. We can ask Dr. Freeman what she thinks would be a good approach, Char might not even bring it up on her own. When's her next appointment?"

"2 days." Emily said.

"So we call her tomorrow and figure out the best approach." Derek said

Emily nodded.

"Now don't take this the wrong way but... you look like hell." Derek said, cracking a smile.

Emily rolled her eyes, also smiling. "Wow you know how to charm a lady" she replied with mock offense.

Derek chuckled. "Seriously. Go take a couple hours for yourself- read, sleep, whatever you need. Spencer and I got this covered."

"You're sure?" Emily asked

"Go" he said, smiling.

Emily went up to catch up on laundry folding and some paperwork while Derek joined Spencer and Charlotte in finishing up her rocket.

A couple hours later, the rocket had been successfully launched in the backyard, and Emily was finishing up cooking dinner.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay Spencer? I made plenty of food" Emily offered.

"Thanks Emily, but I've got to get home. I told Hotch I'd review some case files before tomorrow." Spencer replied, giving her a hug goodbye.

"Thanks for playing with me Charlotte." He said, smiling at happy girl.

"Thank you fow taking me and fow the rocket and books!" She replied, getting up and tentatively giving him a hug.

Spencer grinned at the sweet gesture.

Once he left, Derek, Emily, and Charlotte sat down to dinner of spaghetti and meatballs.

Charlotte was determined to successfully twirl pasta like Derek was, and after a few tries and a little help, she successfully got it neatly twirled and into her mouth and beamed with pride, accepting Derek's high five.

They talked about the science center, her dance class tomorrow, and therapy appointment the following day.

As Emily cleared the dishes, Charlotte's happy demeanor turned a little more serious as she remembered something.

"Mommy?" She asked.

"Yes sweetheart?" She answered, rinsing off the dishes.

"What did the judge say? Can you adopt me?" She asked, the hope evident in her voice.

Emily froze and turned off the running water.

"Well- um, she.." Emily started, her mind blank on what to say.

"Charlotte, mommy and I want to have a talk with you, is that ok?" Derek interrupted, giving Emily a chance to compose her self and come back to the table.

Charlotte nodded slowly, her smile fading.

"Charlotte you know that we love you very very much. And I told the judge that this morning" Emily started.

"But adoption and judges... they're very grown up things, and can be very confusing sometimes" Derek said

"You not want me?" Charlotte whispered, tears welling up in her eyes

"No, no that's not true we-"

"The judge not said yes so you not want me!" She said, her voice breaking mid sentence.

"Charlotte I promise that's not what happened" Emily said, reaching out to comfort her, but Charlotte jumped back from the touch and dodged it, getting up quickly from her chair.

"Listen to us sweetheart" Derek said, trying to get her attention.

Charlotte's tears came flying down and before either could do anything, she ran upstairs and they heard the bedroom door close.

Emily immediately stood up to follow her.

"Emily, hey hey" Derek said, grabbing her hand. "She needs space."

"Derek she thinks we don't want her!" She shot back

"And until you figure out how to approach telling her that's not true she needs to calm down and you need to plan how to tell her" he said.

She sighed, knowing he was right, and sat back down.

"You're right."

Just then, Derek's phone started to buzz and they both knew what it was from.

He sighed, pulling it out of his pocket and looked at the screen.

"We have a case, Hotch needs us right now..." he said, closing his eyes for patience.

There really was no such thing as good timing as an FBI agent.

"No, no it's ok. Go. I'll be ok. I can do this" Emily promised, getting up with him.

"I'm so sorry" he said, kissing her on the cheek and getting his keys. "I'll call you as soon as I can."

"Be safe" she said, as he left the front door.

After taking a minute to compose herself, she went upstairs to Charlotte's room.

The door was now slightly ajar, and she could see Charlotte sitting on the side of her bed looking down, legs swinging aimlessly back and forth.

She gently knocked, but Charlotte didn't look up.

Emily went in and slowly sat down on the bed next to her.

"I know you're upset, so you don't have to say anything, just listen for a second."

Emily looked to see if Charlotte was listening, but her face didn't change.

"Charlotte judges can be silly sometimes. Sometimes they don't know the whole story. It's like reading the first page of a bedtime story and they just want to skip to the end, without reading the whole middle part. The judge didn't say no, just the she wanted us to spend a little more time together before she made the adoption real. But that doesn't mean I love you any less. We will still adopt you, just in a little while. In the mean time, nothing here will change. And nothing, and I mean _nothing_ any judge says will make me not want you."

Emily waited for a second to see if Charlotte would say anything. Her face stayed down, but after a minute she slowly raised it ever so slightly.

"Pwomise?" She whispered

"I absolutely promise." Emily said, wrapping her arms around char, who returned the hug gratefully, needing the comfort.

"I love you Charlotte. Nothing will change that" she said.

"I wove you too Mommy"

 **As always, please review with any thoughts or suggestions! Thank you for still reading even though I can't update as frequently now- I promise to do my best to update a little more regularly going forward!**

 **Please review! :)**


	41. Dance Class and Time for school?

Once she got Charlotte to bed and heard quickly from Derek that the team was off to Arizona for hopefully a quick case, the day's events made if hard for Emily to fall asleep. Especially with having time earlier to rest that she wasn't used to, her body felt wide awake.

After accepting she wasn't going to sleep for a little while more, she got out of bed, and went downstairs to make herself some tea and replayed the day.

Sometimes it felt like every time she took a step forward in her journey with Charlotte, she was suddenly pushed three steps back.

While she could understand the judges reasons for delaying the official adoption, they just weren't true in the case of Charlotte, and Emily was frustrated that she still had to wait and jump through all the hoops. Charlotte's struggles medically and emotionally just made Emily feel more compassionate to help her, not less.

After drinking her tea, she went over to her office and logged onto her computer to look through some emails she'd missed.

While scrolling through, she saw a reply from Maywood Academy, one of the schools she had sent a general email reach out to about Charlotte.

 _"Shoot"_ she thought, seeing she had missed the reply from them by two days.

She clicked on the email, which read-

" _Dear Agent Prentiss,_

 _Thank you for reaching out about Charlotte. We are so saddened to hear about her unfortunate past, and pleased that you are considering Maywood as an education option for her. We understand how overwhelming and challenging of a time this must be for you and her, and do not want to add to that._

 _Whenever is a good time for you both, feel free to come to our campus and take a tour and meet with the teachers and one-on-one educational specialists that would potentially be helping Charlotte during her transition. We pride ourselves on having small classes, and exemplary teachers and specialists that provide exceptional educational and personal growth and opportunities for our students here._

 _If you have any questions or would like to come by, please don't hesitate to email or call me at 703-153-8000 extension #112._

 _Warm regards,_

 _Mary Sullivan_

 _Director of admissions"_

Emily was both excited and concerned reading the email. She had done extensive and thorough research on several private schools in the area, knowing that Charlotte would need and deserved the individual attention and opportunities that public schools nearby just couldn't offer. Out of all of them, she was most impressed with Maywood, which had impressive reviews, statistics, and individual learning specialists who could help Charlotte. It was also about halfway between her house and the FBI office.

While she knew school was a necessary and important upcoming step for Charlotte, she also knew the transition and entire process would be very challenging, despite the intelligence Charlotte naturally had.

The email sounded so official- so real- and Emily was having a hard time imagining Charlotte spending 6-8 hours away from her and Derek and the team, even though she knew it was the logical and important step.

She sat at her desk trying to think through when the best time to take her would be.

Should Charlotte be there? Should just Emily go at first? What if Charlotte hated the idea of school? What grade would she be in and how long would it take her to catch up if she was put in a lower one? Should they go tomorrow? The next day? The next week? How would Charlotte react?

Those and a million other questions flooded Emily's mind, and she desperately wished Derek was there to help her think through them.

Sighing, she pulled out her phone and saw an hour had passed. She shut down her laptop and went upstairs, sending a quick text to Derek on the way to see how everything was going.

To her surprise, he replied within a few minutes and said "Why are you still up? Sleep babygirl! Case is a rough one but we've got a good lead to go off tomorrow. Hopefully should be done in a couple days. Night :)"

Even though Emily knew she couldn't pull Derek's focus from the case, seeing his message still calmed her down and she drifted off to sleep a few moments later.

The next morning, Emily woke up around 8:30 feeling fairly well rested. After checking her phone, she got out of bed and went down to Charlotte's room.

Pausing at the doorway, she stopped and grinned at the sight in front of her- Charlotte was up and practicing her dance from class last week, twirling and leaping across her room with Mr. Turtle in her hands.

When she finished the combination, Emily clapped.

Charlotte, surprised, turned around and grinned sheepishly.

"It's dance class today mommy!" She said, the excitement evident in her voice.

"It is, sweetheart" Emily replied. "Which means you'd better get a good breakfast in you! Hungry?"

Charlotte nodded, the smile still on her face, and followed Emily downstairs in her adorable pink and yellow flower patterned pjs.

Emily made French toast and eggs, and put some on Charlotte's plate, drenching it in syrup like she knew Charlotte liked.

Once she put the plate in front of Charlotte, she immediately stopped coloring her picture and began scarfing down the food.

"Hey, hey love" Emily said, gently touching her arm. "Remember, no one is going to take this food from you. You don't have to eat so fast. You can have as much as you want" she reminded.

Relief and a twinge of embarrassment colored Charlotte's face.

"I'm sowwy mommy. I just fowget sometimes" she said in a small voice.

"I know, it's perfectly ok" Emily said reassuringly, washing out the pans from making breakfast.

When they were finished eating, the Emily helped Charlotte get dressed, then they went to the grocery store to pick up some fresh food.

This time, when Emily asked for food Charlotte wanted or gave her options, she was happy to see Charlotte less timid and comfortable enough to make some decisions, even though she still didn't want to always choose.

They got staple foods like bread, eggs, and milk, as well as plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, some more ice cream, and ingredients for dinners throughout the week.

Once satisfied with their cart, they checked out, and Emily decided to stop by a Panera for lunch.

She ordered a salad for herself and kids mac and cheese for Charlotte, and couldn't resist getting a big m&m cookie for them to split. They had a nice lunch and talked more about the science center from the previous day, as well as Finny her fish and plans for the rest of the week.

Once they got back home, Emily unloaded the groceries and despite Emily telling her she could go color or watch tv, Charlotte stayed by her side in the kitchen doing her best to help her mom unload.

Once they were finished, Emily read a few stories to Charlotte, and then helped Charlotte get dressed in pink tights and a black leotard and her ballet slippers for class.

After combing her blond hair into a ballerina bun, Charlotte's grin didn't leave her face, and they were ready to go.

Once she was at the studio, Charlotte's face lit up from the minute she walked into class and stayed the whole time.

Emily watched for the first few minutes also smiling at Charlotte's intense concentration and how much fun she was having.

Emily may have been biased, but Charlotte picked up the dance moves quicker than almost the whole class, and was definitely one of the best there.

After a few minutes, Emily sat down, and after thinking a little more, tentatively dialed the number to Maywood Academy, pressing the extension to get to Mary Sullivan's office.

After a few rings, the other line picked up.

"Hello?" A friendly voice greeted.

"Hi, this is Emily Prentiss, I got an email from you a couples ago.."

"Oh Ms. Prentiss hello! How are you and Charlotte?"

"We're good, thanks for asking." Emily replied, already impressed that the director remembered their names from many emails she must receive and reply to.

"I wanted to see when a good time may be to come see the school. Honestly, this is really new to me, so I'm not really sure how the whole enrollment process works and if Charlotte should be there, and with her past and all, so I was hoping you could maybe give any insight into that?" Emily asked.

"Of course, Ms. Prentiss. I know this can be very overwhelming, and whether or not Charlotte ends up at Maywood, I want her to be have a successful transition. Why don't you come by with Charlotte sometime in the next few days. I'll give you both a tour, and then Charlotte can take some standard placement tests if she's comfortable with it with a specialist, and I can meet with you privately to answer any questions you may have and we can go from there. Gen if she doesn't end up here, the place,net tests can be sent to any private school so she won't have to keep taking the same tests over and over." she suggested warmly.

"That sounds great" Emily replied, already feeling more relieved. "She has an appointment tomorrow at 2, but we could come by in the late morning if that'd work?" She suggested, wanting Charlotte to see the school before her therapy appointment so she could talk through the visit with Dr. Freeman.

"Sure, let me just check my schedule... ok, if you can come in around 10, that'd be wonderful" Mary replied.

"That works" Emily said, in disbelief at how easily it was working out. "Thank you so much for your help and we'll see you tomorrow"

"Thank you for calling and I really look forward to meeting you both" she replied.

After hanging up, Emily felt relieved, and watched the last few minutes of Charlotte's class where Charlotte still did the combinations very well and looked like she was having the time of her life doing so.

Once the class was dismissed, Charlotte came out with the rest of her class and ran over to Emily smiling.

Emily picked her up and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead before setting her back down. "Did you have fun?" She asked

Charlotte nodded.

Her teacher came out last and saw Charlotte with Emily.

"Mommy can I get watew?" She asked, pointing to the water fountain about 20 feet away

Emily nodded. "Of course!"

Charlotte walked over and her teacher, a young woman in her early 20's with a dancers body and light brown hair came over to Emily.

"Hi, are you Charlotte's mom?" She asked kindly.

"I am" Emily answered, loving that title.

"Well I have been very impressed with Charlotte these last few classes. Can I ask where she danced before?" She said

"She's never taken lessons before, actually. She saw a dancer documentary and wanted to try, so we signed her up." Emily replied, beaming.

"That's very impressive. It's so rare that we see a child as young as her picking up and executing steps so well. In fact, I really think she could do well at an advanced level. Our studio has a nationally ranked competition team, and we have programs that are by recommendation only for younger dancers to be on a track to potentially be on that team when their older and ready. She'd be taking different styles of dance, and probably about 2-3 lessons a week as opposed to one" the teacher explained.

"Wow that sounds.. amazing. Thank you for recommending her. Could I talk with her later and think about it and let the studio know?" Emily asked

"Of course. Take some time to think about it this week and we can talk next week. I'm one of the instructors on the young advanced track. If you have any questions, you can find my email on the website. And if she tries it and it's not for her, there's absolutely no pressure for her to keep doing it. It's just an option if you both would like." She said kindly.

"Thank you again" Emily told her as Charlotte returned.

"Good job today Charlotte, I'll see you next week" her teacher told her.

Charlotte smiled. "Thank you vewy much" she said, taking her mom's hand.

"Ready to go?" Emily asked.

Charlotte nodded.

"Alright, let's get some dinner" Emily said, and the two walked out to the car.

* * *

 ****please read this****

 **Happy 2019! I can't believe I began this story right around New Years last year, and thanks to your reviews and support, it's still going. School has made it very hard to update the last few months, so I hope this longer chapter makes up for some of that and I promise to try and update more regularly.**

 **But it'd be immensely helpful for you to review with your thoughts and ideas! I want to write it with your input! Let me know in the reviews how you want her upcoming school and therapy visits to go and any other thoughts or ideas you have! Thank you and I hope everyone had a very Happy Holidays!**


	42. School talk

Back home, Charlotte was still her happy self after dance helping her Mom set the table for dinner.

Emily loved seeing this side of her, and could tell she was in some of her best moods after dance class- she really did love it.

Emily knew Charlotte would _love_ the advanced dance program her teacher recommended, but she wasn't sure if the time commitment would be too much for her. She didn't want her new hobby to turn into something she felt pressure or overwhelmed with- she already had enough of that thanks to her awful so-called father.

She'd have to talk to Derek and Dr. Freeman about it first, and Charlotte of course- although she already had a feeling she knew what her answer would be.

In the meantime, she had plenty of important things they both had to focus on- Charlotte had therapy the next day, more doctor's appointments in the future, Emily needed to start to think about her long term plans with the BAU, with Derek... and then of course there was the school tour and meeting _tomorrow._

Emily sighed, knowing she'd have to talk to Charlotte during dinner about the next day. She just wished Derek were here. Just his presence helped calm her and Charlotte so much.

But she knew he and the team had to keep solving cases and helping more people...

"All done Mommy!" Charlotte's sweet voice said, pulling Emily out of her thoughts.

"Well that is perfect timing because dinner is all done too!" Emily replied, eliciting a tiny giggle from Charlotte, making Emily smile too.

She had made spaghetti and meatballs- one of Charlotte's favorite meals.

After putting it on the table, she scooped some onto Charlotte's plate and some onto her own.

She watched as Charlotte, with a face full of determination, twirled some spaghetti onto her fork and successfully get into her mouth without it falling off like Derek taught her. Her face broke out into a smile.

Emily smiled back, and they both ate in silence for a minute before Emily spoke up.

"So Charlotte, I need to have a little talk with you, is that ok?" she said.

Charlotte nodded, but Emily could see her previously happy expression tense up to apprehension ever so slightly.

In the past, when Emily had to "have a talk" with her, it was about the doctors, or therapy, or something else she didn't like, so she couldn't blame her.

"Well first you know you have your appointment with Dr. Freeman tomorrow, just to talk to her about whatever you want to. Do you feel ok with that?" Emily asked

Charlotte sort of shrugged but nodded. She had some negative memories with talking to Dr. Freeman, but overall she was nice and trustworthy and Charlotte didn't mind going.

"Ok, good" Emily smiled. "The other thing I wanted to talk to you about was... school" Emily said, and purposefully paused to study Charlotte's reaction and behavior when she said it.

Charlotte's small brows knit together slightly in what seemed to be confusion, followed by what looked like sadness in her eyes as she put her fork down and looked down at her plate...

 _When she looked down again, it wasn't her plate, but her own small, dirty and dry hands clutching the sides of her favorite book that her Mom read her. She sat downstairs, back in the basement on the floor surrounded by her few other possessions. She was trying to sound out the words in the story like her mom had taught her, but she couldn't. Some were just too hard._

 _With a heavy sigh, she closed the book, wishing again that her Mom were there. When her Mom was there, she'd read to Charlotte and help her. She was nice and gave her hugs and said she loved her._

 _But now her Mommy was gone, and Charlotte had to accept she wasn't coming back again._

 _After thinking for a moment, a new wave of determination lead Charlotte to open the book again and she tried to sound out the words when she heard the basement door slam open, and Master's heavy, unforgiving footsteps descend down the stairs._

 _Charlotte tensed and swallowed hard as Master came into view._

 _"What're you doing?" He spat, looking at her with pure disgust._

 _"W-weading" she choked out, her little heart pounding._

 _"REading" he pronounced harshly, correcting her pronunciation. "You can't even talk without sounding like a baby."_

 _"I-I sowwy- Mommy said to wead to make smart for school" Charlotte squeaked out in response, trying to defend her and Mom._

 _Charlotte loved the idea of school. Her mom talked about it to her a lot. She told her how she'd get to make friends, and learn lots of new things. Charlotte loved learning, and reading, and drawing. Getting to do that every day sounded like so much fun._

 _She watched as Master's eyes narrowed and he took a few threatening steps towards her._

 _Charlotte wanted to crawl backwards but knew he'd hurt her if she did. Still feeling intense fear from his presence however, she resorted to clutching her legs to her chest into a ball._

 _She jumped as Master approached her and ripped the book from her weak grip._

 _"Reading and school" he sneered "are for babies and smart-asses like your whore of a mother tried to be." He almost growled. "You will_ _ **never**_ _go to school. The only thing you're good for is your body to make me money. You're stupid. You're dumb. You can't even read or speak right. So you wont need this" he said, taking the book, and ripping pages from the center of it._

 _Charlotte's heart shattered as she watched him take the pages, crush them into a ball, then throw it across the room._

 _"But" she squeaked, her eyes flooding with tears before she could stop them._

 _Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain across her face as Master slapped it._

 _"You do not talk back to me. Now, I have a new friend coming to see you in a half hour. You will respect him and you will do what he want you to do or you will not any food tonight or tomorrow. Do you understand me?"_

 _Charlotte's heart sunk and a lump formed in her throat thinking of what was about to happen to her._

 _"Y-yes mastew" she said staring down, feeling hopeless, scared, and so, so alone._

"Charlotte sweetheart, what're you thinking about?" Emily said gently, taking her hand and pulling her from her flashback.

She lifted her head and looked at Emily, a pained expression on her face and tears pooled in her eyes thinking about the memory.

"Oh Charlotte honey, what is it?" Emily said, her voice laced with concern and sadness seeing her look like this.

One delicate tear fell from the corner of her eye, and then Charlotte began sobbing.

"Oh sweetheart" Emily said, and let her motherly instincts take over.

She scooped Charlotte up and carried her into the living room, and sat with her on the couch in her lap while she continued sobbing.

"Shh, it's ok. You're ok now." Emily repeated to her while she rubbed small circles on her back and waited for Charlotte to let her feelings out.

Emily didn't know why she was crying, but knew it had to have been an old memory with Hosben that bringing up school had triggered.

When Charlotte had these, she just needed to get her emotions out with her Mom there to comfort her. Emily was just glad that Charlotte was at a level of trust that Emily physically hugging and comforting her helped her.

After a few minutes, Charlotte's sobs turned into sniffles, then hiccups, and she broke apart from hugging Emily and rubbed her red eyes with tiny fists.

Emily gave her a sad smile and continued to rub her back for comfort.

"Talk to me sweetheart" she said after a minute.

"M-mastew said I was stupid and-" she paused as her breath hitched, still trying to find its regular rhythm after all her crying "and school was for stupid people and I would never go" she confided sadly.

"Oh Charlotte, sweetie" Emily said, giving her another hug for comfort, which Charlotte returned gratefully.

"Sweetheart look at me" Emily requested once hey separated, taking her hands. "What I'm about to tell you is very important, ok?"

Charlotte nodded skeptically, still sniffling slightly.

"You are _not_ stupid. You are smart, and kind, and creative. School is a wonderful place. It's a place you get to go and meet her friends- people your age and people my age- who want to help you learn and have fun. You get to read, and color, and play." She paused to look at her reaction, and saw a glimmer of hope in Charlotte's eyes.

"It's ok to not know how to do things while you're there, because you have people- nice and patient people- to teach you, and show you how to. But most importantly, I don't want you do ever think that you are stupid. You are not stupid. You can do anything that you want to do, and I will always be here to support you and love you no matter what, ok?"

Charlotte's face looked to Emily hopefully and gratefully, wanting to believe her, and wanting to go to school like her mommy had told her before she died.

"Pwomise mommy?" She asked

"I _promise_ Charlotte. I won't ever lie to you. In fact, let's go to my office, I want to show you something." She said, getting up and leading the way in.

She sat down at her desk and moved the mouse to wake her computer up and lifted Charlotte up into her lap.

Her browser was already up to a the website of Maywood. Emily clicked through a few pictures of beautiful buildings, smiling children, and whimsical classrooms.

"This is what school looks like. I thought we could visit here tomorrow, just to see what you think. I'll be there with you, and it will just be a short little visit to see how you like it and let you take some tests with the nice teachers to show you how smart you already are. What do you think?" She proposed.

Charlotte's eyes lit up with wonder and excitement at the pictures that moved across the screen.

She still felt a little apprehensive, after remembering what her Master had told her, but Charlotte was beginning to realized more and more that what Master told her was usually wrong and mean, and what her Mommy and Derek told her was usually right.

And, she really did like the idea of school. She loved science and reading and puzzles and learning.

She looked back and Emily and grinned. "Ok" she agreed.

Emily smiled as she picked her up and went back to the table to finish and clear dinner, then get helped her shower and get ready for bed.

Charlotte let Emily help her wash her hair in the shower and put the balm on her almost completely faded bruises and burns.

Once Charlotte was tucked in and Emily finished reading her stories, she too got ready for bed and after getting out of the shower, breathed a huge sigh of relief seeing a text from Derek that the team solved the case and had just landed back in Virginia.

She called Derek and filled him in on the day's events and their school talk, then soon fell asleep, needing to rest up for the busy day ahead.

 **Hello! Please review what you thought and/or how you would like the next chapter to go! Suggestions are always appreciated! Do you want the school and therapy visits to go well? Not well? Mix? Other ideas? I want to hear them! :)**

 **As always, thanks for your continued support! You all are the best!**


	43. Daddy's Home and School Visit

The next morning, Emily woke up early after seeing a text that Derek could come over before heading into the office for paperwork.

It was early still, and Charlotte didn't have to wake up for a few more minutes, so Derek texted Emily when he was there so he wouldn't wake Charlotte with the doorbell.

As soon as she got the text Emily raced downstairs, feeling like a kid on Christmas knowing she'd get to see her boyfriend momentarily.

Even though it had only been a few days, she wasn't used to being apart from him. I'm fact, she was used to seeing him and the team more than she saw Segiro thanks to their crazy work schedule.

She opened the door and before he could say anything planted a deep, passionate kiss on his lips.

Derek was surprised for a moment, but then relaxed and returned it, not even realizing how much he had missed Emily until she was back in front of him.

"Well good morning to you too" he said with a grin when they broke apart.

She rolled her eyes but still smiled, leading him inside and shutting the door.

They sat down at the table with mugs of coffee both filling each other in on the past days- Derek about the case, and Emily about Charlotte's dance opportunity and school flashback.

"So you think she's feeling ok about it now?" He asked when she had finished telling him what happened.

Emily sighed. "I think so. I showed her pictures on the computer and it seemed to really help. I think she likes the idea of school and wants to go, just felt conflicted when she remembered what Hosben had told her."

Derek nodded. "She was ok the rest of the night? No more flashbacks?"

Emily shook her head. "No. And she was comfortable letting me help her get ready for bed and no nightmares or bedwetting. She really is making a lot of progress." Emily said

"Well she's got the worlds best mom to help her" Derek said.

"And best dad" Emily replied, smiling.

Derek smiled too but their moment was interrupted by the familiar text tone of his phone.

He sighed, pulling his phone out and looked at it.

"Ah, I've got to head in" he said, standing up, then glancing again at the time. "What time were you going to get Charlotte up?" He asked

She glanced at the clock too. "Actually, around now. Stick around for another minute?" She said

"Always" he replied, following her up the stairs.

Derek stayed back in the bedroom's doorframe while Emily went in beside Charlotte's peaceful sleeping figure, nearly hidden by her cozy flower patterned comforter.

"Charlotte sweetie, time to wake up" she said gently, moving her shoulder slightly.

Charlotte's adorable green eyes blinked open slowly and she sat up.

"Goodmowning Mommy" she greeted with a small smile pulling at her lips.

"Good morning love" Emily said, returning the smile. "Are you ready to see school today?" She asked.

Charlotte nodded. "Can Mw. Tuwtle come with me though?" She requested, looking down at the stuffed animal that rarely left her hands.

"You bet" Emily replied. "And I've got another surprise for you" she added, turning to where Derek came into view in the door frame.

Charlotte's eyes lit up. "Daddy!" She exclaimed, jumping out of bed and into his arms.

"Oh baby girl I missed you!" He replied, lifting her up and settling her on her hip as she snuggled into his strong, comforting arms.

Emily's heart swelled looking at the two of them.

He gave her a kiss on the forehead then set her back down.

"I missed you too Daddy!" She replied. "Awe you seeing school with us?"

"Oh baby girl I wish I could, but I've got to head into work. But be good for mommy and have fun, and I'll see you in just a little while when you come talk to Dr. Freeman, sound good?" He said

Charlotte nodded happily.

Emily gave him a quick kiss goodbye then he was off.

"Ok, want to help pick an outfit?" Emily said, knowing how much Charlotte was growing to love getting to make choices.

She nodded with a smile, making her way over to the dresser.

An hour later, the two were in the car having gotten ready and eaten a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes. Charlotte was wearing a lilac purple 3 quarter sleeve dress with white small Polk a dots and white tights underneath. Her bright blonde hair was down with just a tiny section pulled back from her face with a small butterfly clip.

She looked absolutely precious.

"So Charlotte, were just going to look around the school with a very nice lady, and then if you're ok with it, let you do some activities with a teacher there. It doesn't matter if the activity is very easy or very hard, you're smart no matter what and it's just to help see what you can learn" Emily reminded her. She had talked to her during breakfast about the placement tests or "activities" as Emily described them, and the tour. Charlotte seemed a little apprehensive after hearing about them, but she trusted her mom that it wouldn't be anything bad.

Charlotte nodded in the back. She seemed a little nervous, which Emily expected, and clung tight to Mr. Turtle, but also still seemed excited and was open to going, which was the most important part.

Fifteen minutes later, Emily's SUV pulled into the gated driveway or Maywood- revealing a massive and very impressive campus.

Even though Emily had studied the pictures what seemed like hundreds of times online, it seemed somehow even more beautiful and impressive in person. The K-2 entered entrance of the building was right near the visitor lot, where Emily parked.

Walking inside, the passed a playground that looked like a castle with all sorts of whimsical things to do, some beautiful gardens, and even a small fountain.

It was the perfect mix of looking impressive and state of the art, yet still kid friendly and inviting.

They walked inside and signed in, Charlotte now staying a little closer to Emily, some nerves from being in a new surrounding showing, but also with wide eyes of wonder and excitement looking at all of the fun things that were around her.

Just a minute after signing in, and pretty, young looking woman with a kind face and warm smile walked over to them.

"Hello" she greeted kindly, shaking Emily's hand. "I'm Mary Sullivan, director of admissions. We're so happy to have you both visiting here. And you," she continued crouching down to Charlotte's level, "must be Charlotte." she said, holding out her hand, which Charlotte tentively took but then giggled as she shook it like she did with Emily.

She felt included and thought Ms. Sullivan seemed nice.

"Why don't we take a quick look around campus?" She suggested.

"Sounds great" Emily replied.

The two followed her around to see several classrooms, some with classes in them, some not. Each room was full of bright and child friendly colors, decorations, shapes, and student artwork on display.

Emily was in awe of the place and also in love with the adorable uniforms the kids wore.

Even Charlotte couldn't keep the smile off her face seeing most of the rooms full of books, toys, art supplies, and even puzzles. It looked like a lot of fun.

Mary took them outside to see the playground again and explained that the garden flowers came from seeds the first grade class planted and took care of together. It taught them to care for the earth, as well as responsibility and structure of watering them each day.

Emily was beyond impressed with the facts and statistics that Mary was naming off throughout the tour- the school was small, with only the top teachers working there, there were 10 full time learning specialists on staff who's sole job it was to help in areas of transition and support like Charlotte may need, the standardized test scores were the best in the state, and most importantly to Emily- the kids just looked like they were genuinely having fun.

As the tour finished, Mary took them to a smaller room with bookshelves, kid sized tables, bean bags on the floor, and a whiteboard on the wall were. A young, enthusiastic and friendly woman was there, holding a clipboard and some folders.

"Charlotte, this is Miss Sara. I was thinking if it was ok with you, you could play some games with her while your mommy and I chat?"

Charlotte began to feel a little nervous and shy and buried her head into Emily's leg.

"Hey now love, you have nothing to be afraid of" Emily said, lifting her up and pointing out fun things in the room. "You have all these fun things to try out, and I'll just be right down the hall. What do you say?" She asked.

Charlotte looked around, thinking for a moment.

"Hey Charlotte" Sara, the specialist enticed, "I have one of my favorite books here, it's about a silly froggy who goes to the circus! Want to read it with me while your mom talks for a couple minutes?"

Charlotte couldn't stop a small smile from appearing at the corner of her lips. It really did look fun and she wanted to.

She nodded as Emily set her down.

"I'll be back in just a little while. You have fun, and remember, you're one smart girl, and I love you no matter what" She reminded her, following Mary back to her office once Charlotte got settled in the room with Sara.

Back in her office, Emily told Mary her honest thoughts of how impressed she was with the school. Mary was kind and helpful, and answered all of Emily's questions. Emily knew in her heart this was the place for Charlotte. They talked about possible start dates, an developed

a plan just for Charlotte to help her adjust smoothly- one that allowed for her to start with shorter days and one on one time with a specialist that would gradually turn into integrating her fully into the classroom with her peers and the full school day. Mary listened to all of Emily's concerns and things to look out for with flashbacks, panic attacks, etc.

By the time they left her office a half hour later, Emily felt completely safe and comfortable sending Charlotte here when the time was right.

They walked back to the classroom where Charlotte was and could see her giggling and pointing out things she had drawn in a picture on the desk. She looked happy and so comfortable there.

"Hey Char, did you have fun?" She asked, walking in.

Charlotte looked up with a big grin and nodded. "And wook what I dwew!" She said, holding up her painting proudly.

Emily's heart swelled at the excitement in her voice.

"That looks beautiful honey!" She said, walking over and helping her get ready to go.

"It was great to meet you Charlotte, thanks for playing with me!" Sara said, and to Emily's surprise, Charlotte gave her a tentative hug.

For Charlotte to feel that comfortable and happy after just a half hour was more than Emily could have ever hoped.

"Miss Prentiss, I'll review our assessments with Mary and one of us will give you a call later to discuss." Sara said, shaking Emily's hand.

"Great. Thank you both again, I look forward to speaking with you soon" Emily said, shaking Mary's hand once more.

"You as well. Have a great rest of your day. Great to meet you Charlotte" Mary replied with a warm smile to them both.

Walking out to the car, Charlotte was in a great mood.

"So what'd you think Char? Did you like it?" Emily asked.

"I weally did Mommy" she said happily.

"I did too" Emily admitted, helping her buckle in. "Hmm, looks like we've got a little time before talking to Dr. Freeman... just enough time to get some lunch and... ice cream?" Emily proposed, making Charlotte grin again. "Sound like a plan?"

Charlotte nodded happily. "Yes pwease!"

 **Thanks for reading! I wanted to try to give you all a longer chapter and get it up quickly so please let me know what you thought and any ideas/suggestions you have! :)**


	44. The team & Dr Freeman visits

**Thank you for your reviews and kind words! I have had a couple people message me asking what charlotte looks like in a picture. Since the current cover image doesn't show too much that would help show this, I've updated it with how I've imagined her throughout the story. Enjoy & review please! :)**

After lunch, Emily and Charlotte got back in the car and Emily started the familiar route to the FBI office.

Charlotte's mood had shifted some now that they were going to therapy- she was quieter in the car- she wasn't scared, more apprehensive, but Emily still noticed.

Once they got to the building Emily picked Charlotte up, and once she was settled on her hip walked in the doors.

Once she showed her credentials they went up to the BAU floor. Since they had a few minutes, Emily took Charlotte in with her to the bullpen so the team could say hi. She also hoped it might clam her nerves.

They were greeted with smiles from the team when they walked in, and this time, Charlotte felt comfortable enough to even give a shy smile back.

"Hey baby girl" Derek greeted, putting his hand out for a fist pump.

Charlotte tentatively touched her fist to his and he moved his back dramatically making a loud rocket sound effect that made Charlotte giggle and Emily roll her eyes, but still with a smile.

"Hey Charlotte" Reid said, motioning for her to come over with his hand. "I want to show you something"

Charlotte looked up at Emily questioningly, who smiled and set her down with a nod of encouragement.

She gently padded over to Reid, who was sitting at his desk.

Once she was next to him, Reid suddenly looked up at the ceiling with a surprised look on his face and Charlotte followed his gaze, then Reid quickly swiped behind her ear and revealed a penny in his hand.

Charlotte's face lit up in surprise and excitement.

"How did you do twat!?" She exclaimed, making the whole team, even Hotch who had seen the trick a million times, smile.

"Magic." He replied mysteriously. "Which makes this a magic penny for good luck, and it's yours to bring you good luck with Dr. Freeman, ok?" He said, placing it in her hand.

She offered him a small smile. "Thank you Spencew" she said, truly appreciating the sentiment.

"Speaking of" Emily said, "we should get going to talk to Dr. Freeman love bug. Ready?"

Charlotte nodded, a brave and determined look in her face, and took Emily's hand to walk to the office down the hall.

Right before they went in, Emily could still sense some nerves, so she crouched down to Charlotte's level, took her hands and reminded her, "Just talking, and I'll be right outside if you need me, ok? And just to help you. And I love you no matter what." Then gave her a quick kiss on top of her head.

Charlotte nodded gripping the penny, some of the nervousness leaving her, and followed her mom in the office.

Emily handed Dr. Freeman the folder of Charlotte's latest drawings and excused herself after Charlotte got settled curled up with Mr. Turtle on the end of the couch.

"Hi Charlotte, how are you?" Dr. Freeman greeted kindly, sitting on the chair across from her.

"Good, how awe you?" She replied politely.

"I'm good thank you for asking" Dr. Freeman replied with a smile. "You've been busy since I saw you last! And even school today! How was that?"

"It was good" Charlotte replied sincerely. "They were nice and I wike leawning" she said.

Dr. Freeman nodded. "I like learning too. My other favorite part about school was all the other kids and teacher I got to be friends with. Does that sound fun too?" She asked

Charlotte nodded with a shrug, less convincingly than her previous answer. "Yeah, but.. nevewmind" she trailed.

"It's ok Charlotte, you'll never get in trouble for what you say in here. What were you going to say?" She encouraged.

"I won't be with Mommy and Daddy fow a lot."

Dr. Freeman nodded. "But you'll get to see them before and after school, and it's just for a few hours so you can learn with your friends, then see them again." She reassured.

Charlotte nodded, playing with the fur on Mr. Turtle which she held in her lap.

"Your mom told me that you got a little sad at first when she told you about it. That you had remembered something from before. Can you tell me about it?" She asked

Charlotte's brows knitted a little in frustration. She didn't like thinking about that.

"I-m- mastew was mean to me when I wanted to go to school" she replied, not going into much more detail.

Dr. Freeman nodded, and waited to see if she would continue on her own, and after a minute, she did.

"He said I could not do mowe than see the fwiends he bwoght. But I don't like his fwiends. They're not nice and huwt me... and he called me stupid" she trailed, looking at the wall with the slight beginnings of tears in her eyes from the memory.

Dr. Freeman gave her a sad, encouraging smile.

"Charlotte I know that must have been very sad and scary. Just remember that you are very smart and you are going to do great in school, and that your mom and dad will always be there to help you. What master told you was not true, and he can't hurt you anymore" she said gently, reassuring Charlotte.

They talked for a few minutes about light subjects, like dance and Finny and ice cream flavors, then Dr. Freeman gave Charlotte a small break from talking by having her color so she could look at the drawings Emily had given her.

Charlotte was in a good mood, and still making small talk and laughing with Dr. Freeman as she looked at them.

Dr. Freeman was glad to see how much progress they had made from a girl who would barely say a word to her to having happy conversations a few weeks later.

Once Charlotte finished her picture of a turtle in a flower field, Dr. Freeman pulled out one drawings from the folder and held it up for Charlotte to see.

It looked like the sky or water with shades of light blue, but there were also patches of angry red and orange scribbled on.

"Sweetie what's this a picture of?" She asked

Charlotte looked up and saw it, sighed, and looked back down and began coloring her current picture again. "It's a bad dweam" she said, some of her happiness fading.

"What's the dream about?"

"I don't want to tawk about it" she replied, but her crayon marks on her page got a little deeper.

"Can you just tell me who's in the dream?"

"Pwease don't make me tawk about it?" Charlotte whispered putting the crayon down, sounding almost desperate, and looking up at her therapist.

"Ok, of course sweetheart. You never have to talk about something you're not ready do. But just promise me when you have the dream you go to your mom, ok? She won't get mad at you for waking her." Dr. Freeman told her

Charlotte nodded her agreement.

"Speaking of your mom, lets go find her, I bet she's ready to get you home!" Dr. Freeman said, standing and ending the session.

Charlotte smiled happily, glad she was finished and didn't have to talk about too many sad things.

Dr. Freeman wanted to push dream analysis and keep discussing the flashbacks Charlotte had, but she knew she had to be very careful and slow in the process, and Charlotte had already had such a long day.

Once they met Emily in the bullpen, Dr. Freeman handed back the folder of drawings to her as Charlotte went to see another magic trick of Reid's.

"She's getting better Emily, truly. It's a marathon, not a sprint. She has much more she needs to process and work through, but we'll get there. In the meantime, pay special attention to any nightmares she has and encourage her to talk about them with you and Derek, and keep encouraging her drawing pictures. Call me if you need anything" she finished explaining right as Charlotte wandered back with another "magic" coin from Spencer in her hand.

"Alright love" Emily said, lifting her up. "Ready to head home? It's been a busy day!"

Charlotte nodded, resting her small head delicately on Emily's shoulder.

"Bye Charlotte, see you next week" Dr. Freeman said, waving.

Charlotte waved with a gentle smile back then put her thumb in her mouth, eyes heavily drooping as they walked out to the car. Once she was buckled in, Charlotte drifted off to sleep.

Emily smiled at her in the review mirror- It had been one busy, but good day for them.

 **A/n- as always thanks for reading, please please review with thoughts/comments/ideas.**

 *****I also saw an old review I must have missed suggesting starting a separate story that follows Charlotte when she's a little older and what life is like for her at 13/14 or so.**

 **If you would be interested in this, just let me know and I'll start getting ideas together! :)**


End file.
